A Different Kind of Power
by Fire Slash
Summary: (Apprentice Ren AU!). Ever since he became Igor's apprentice at a young age, Ren Amamiya's been a vigilante. A trickster at heart, his ability of summoning Personas while also being able to fade between three worlds makes him quite skilled at what he does. However, will his gifts be enough to help him save his world from devastation?
1. Chapter 1: Rehabilitation Process Begin!

**Author's Note : Hey everyone, FireSlash here and welcome to another one of my impulse fics. As I mentioned in my other Persona fic, I just recently got Persona 5 and started playing it. So far, I'm loving it, so much that I decided to write a fanfic about it. This was an idea I was originally going to use for a Persona 3 fanfic, but I decided to implement it into the world of Persona 5 seeing as it would contradict the plot of Persona 3. Instead, I'll be releasing a different version of that story sometime in the future. Anyways, the premise of this story is basically that Ren, who was born with a unique power, has been taken under Igor's watch and has been given Personas earlier than most. In addition, he also has been given extra powers to help him as well. If you're worried about Ren being an overpowered Mary Sue, then I assure you this won't happen. Though Ren will have a better understanding of the shadows and Personas compared to all the other characters (because he's been mentored by Igor), there will be things he'll need to be educated on. For example, though Ren is more knowledgeable than Morgana in those two fields, Morgana's knowledge in anything related to breaking into castles and being a Phantom Thief are unrivaled. **

**Also, I just wanted to stress that this is an IMPULSE FANFIC, meaning that to me, it's not a huge priority in terms of when I update. This is a story I'll only update when I feel like it. Updates could take as long as months or even years to produce, or they it could only take days. As such, I ask you to be patient.**

 **Anyways, I hope you review and enjoy :-).**

0000

To most, nightfall was a time used for recharging after a long day while simultaneously preparing for what's to come. Yet at the same time, there were some people who used night time to work, them not wanting to waste precious sunlight cramped in some stuffy office doing what they thought to be menial labor. But no matter how most used this time, it was undeniable how dangerous the world got each time the sun fell.

It was certainly true that most people who're usually active this time of day were honest people only trying to support themselves and/or their families. At the same time though, it was also true that whenever evening took over, the amount of shady people active rose. Some of these folks were either desperate or misguided, resorting to less orthodox methods of earning some quick dough. Those who participated in robberies or most organized gang related activities fell into this category. However, some of these people were just evil themselves, using the darkness to mask whatever sick acts they choose to commit with no reason but to satisfy some selfish desire. Murderers, rapists, arsonists, and desecrators were all proud members of this sick group of people.

Normally, it would be up to the police to bring these people to justice, but not all of them were reliable. As mentioned before, most police officers were definitely good people, willing to risk their lives for the sake of helping others. Sadly, like all groups owned by some sort of higher power, there were corrupt members crawling amongst them, hidden and holding more power than most of their comrades. All criminals knew this, with some of them using this knowledge to their advantage. Those with enough money were always willing to part ways with a small chunk of their fortune to escape punishment, creating a mutualistic relationship between the corrupted officers and the aspiring criminal.

Unfortunately for them, there was a special person who also chose to be active during the night, one who used this time to specifically hunt down criminals. Their reason for such wasn't anything too dramatic, they only desired to stop those trying to disturb the peace.

Who was this person? To the public, they were known as the Phantom Thief, the name stemming from the fact they managed to steal the hearts of the general populace all over the world. As for their 'secret identity,' the person who was not only responsible for keeping the streets of Tokyo safe but for becoming the first vigilante to last more than two years on the job was none other than a young boy named Ren Amamiya.

Like a certain famous fictional web slinging character, Ren didn't look like the type to play hero. He was quite nerdy looking, with his glasses plus his curly black hair and all. Along with his quiet and introverted nature, he was certainly no Superman or Iron Man, though he was certainly good looking. Yet, as many people have said before, looks can be deceiving.

Ren was an individual who loved to feel the thrill of excitement, the adrenaline rush satisfying him more than anything else he's experienced thus far. The more dangerous and extreme the situation was, the better. Why was he such an adrenaline junkie? Well, the boy didn't really know. However, he did have a feeling it was because he wasn't exactly like most people. For starters, he had special powers, gifts he used to aid him in his quest for justice. Superhuman strength, agility, and endurance as well as the ability to go intangible were quite useful when fighting people with guns. Yet, these were only the powers he used when fighting other humans. Ren also had the ability to travel between three different planes of existence and the ability to summon spirits know as Persona, but he never used them while in his world. Ironically, his intangibility only worked in his world.

Confused? Well, it'll all make sense in due time…

Currently, Ren was out on one of his night shifts again, wearing his Phantom Thief costume. This outfit consists of a black ankle-length tailcoat, a high-necked waistcoat with gold accents, black jogger-style pants, brown-black winklepickers, and a pair of red gloves. In addition, he wore a black and white mask which seemed to be modeled after a bird. His prey? A tall, blonde haired man who was renowned in the underground world as one of the best assassins in all of Japan. Now, Ren doesn't actively hunt specific people down, instead choosing to wander around until he finds someone trying to break the law, so him finding this dude was all coincidental. Well, mostly. With the way this man was hiding, there was no way his victim would be able to spot him before it was too late. It was only because Ren actually had a sixth sense when it came to finding those who wish to be hidden, a tactic known as his 'Third Eye,' that he was able to find him.

Standing on a thirteen story building, Ren continued to watch his target, who was positioned on the seventh floor of the building next door, a sniper rifle in hand. If he wanted to, Ren could easily ambush the guy right now, but doing so when an enemy was paying extreme attention to their surroundings wasn't the best idea. Instead, he was waiting until the man's target was in sight, wanting to surprise the man as he began to focus only on his target.

Thankfully, it didn't seem he'll have to wait long, for once a red sports car came into view, the assassin began to aim his gun. Taking a few steps back, Ren then ran towards the building's edge before leaping off it. As he fell, he tossed a dagger at the man's gun, disarming him before the boy crashed through the window. Having super strength himself, the boy had no trouble standing right back up. The assassin on the other hand took quite the heavy hit, making his recovery rather slow. Being the gentleman he was, Ren waited until the man stood up, wanting this encounter to be an exciting one.

"What the fuck?" The man groaned as he turned to face his opponent, his once stoic face falling once he saw who he was facing. "Damnit! It's you!"

"..." Ren remained silent, a trait which both his civilian and superhero persona had in common. However, compared to the meek personality his civilian identity wore, as the Phantom Thief, the boy always appeared to be confident, his body posture and the smirk on his face he constantly wore to battle being proof of this.

Getting into a battle stance, the assassin whipped out a hand gun and pointed it at the boy. "...Whatever. Let's just end this."

The man then fired three shots at the boy, only for Ren to dodge them all by simply tilting his body left, right, and then left again.

"It seems the rumors are true," the assassin cursed silently. Pulling out another gun, the man began to fire again, hoping that by using two guns at once, it'll be too much for the boy to dodge. Seeing what he was doing, the boy went intangible before any of the bullets were able to touch him.

"Fuck!" That's all the assassin could muster before Ren ran straight towards him, preparing to deliver a powerful right hook at the man. Blocking the blow with his arm, the man winced in pain. He knew the boy was stronger than him, but was he more skilled? Pulling out a pocket knife, he was about to find out. Swinging the knife at the boy's head, he was surprised to see his attack ended up hitting nothing but air, for Ren had ducked at the last moment.

Pulling back, the assassin tried to hit his target again, only for Ren to skillfully catch his wrist with his own hand. Before the man could even try breaking free, Ren struck him in the stomach, causing the man to fly into a wall. Watching the man struggle to get up again, Ren simply shook his head in disappointment. It seemed the blow the assassin sustained when Ren crashed into him earlier was enough to severely hamper his fighting capabilities. Such a shame…

Eventually getting bored, Ren slammed his foot into the man's face, knocking him out cold. After tying him up and calling the police, Ren then leapt out the building and began climbing down to a nearby alleyway to plan his next move, not having a reason to stay around any longer.

0000

With the time being past midnight, Ren ended up deciding to go home. After all, he was still a high school student, which as everyone knows, requires a lot of focus from an individual.

Taking a few steps out of the alleyway, Ren realized he was still in his superhero get up. Chuckling to himself, he stepped back into the alleyway before snapping his fingers. Doing so caused a blue aura to form around him, said aura consuming him a second later. When it disappeared, Ren was wearing his civilian clothes, which consisted of an unbuttoned black blazer, a black-trimmed cream sweater under the blazer, blue jeans, and brown shoes.

Now that he was in his civilian clothes, Ren then began walking home, only to be interrupted halfway through.

"Our master would like to see you," a female voice said in his head. Though the way the voice held itself suggested that it belonged to a grown woman, it actually belonged to a girl who was no older than eight years of age.

Smiling, Ren then proceeded to respond to the voice. "Alright. Let Igor know I'll be there in five minutes."

"Understood."

"Thanks Justine."

Diving into another alleyway, Ren looked around to see if anyone was around. Seeing as the coast was clear, the boy's eyes then began to glow blue as he started to recite some inaudible words. Eventually, a blue door formed in front of him which he then opened a second later. After the boy's entire body passed though the door, it quickly disappeared, no traces of its existence being left behind…

0000

In a small pocket dimension isolated from the rest of the universe was an area known as the Velvet Room. The Velvet Room was, simply put it, absolutely strange. For starters, you cannot gain entry to the place unless you were invited. Guests however never physically enter the room, their minds doing so in their place. Secondly, the place was known to a very, very, very small number of people, most of them having been guests themselves. Lastly, the Velvet Room has no official form, forming a physical representation of a visitor's heart. As such, the Velvet Room has had many forms, changing each time a guest entered the plane of existence.

As one can see, nearly everything involving the Velvet Room was certainly a mystery. However, perhaps the biggest mystery about the Velvet Room was the man who ran the place himself: Igor. In terms of appearance, Igor was the definition of shady. An old man in a full on suit with a huge nose and creepy grin wasn't someone who seemed all that trustworthy. But, as all who've visited the Velvet Room knows, Igor's help was needed if they wished to succeed. Everyone brought into the Velvet Room was there because they have the power to save the world, a world threatened by creatures known as Shadows. Not much was known about Shadows, other than the fact they were created by humanity's twisted desires. To combat these creatures, Igor was responsible for giving several humans the power of Persona, which allowed them to summon spirits to combat all who oppose them. Granted, Igor wasn't the only being with the ability to bestow Personas to people, but he was easily the most knowledgeable. He had the power to fuse Personas, a gift which no one else can claim to possess.

In addition, it should be noted that the people Igor chooses to offer his services to are all special in one particular way, they can wield more than one Persona. This was what Igor called the power of the Wild Card. A person with the power of the Wild Card has the ability to alter their personality at will, allowing them to utilize multiple different Personas in battle.

Normally, Igor never bothered to interfere with anything himself other than by offering his services to those possessing the abilities of the Wild Card, but there was one time he broke that rule. Ten years ago, the man had brought a young boy under his wing, said boy also having the ability of the Wild Card. However, compared to his other clients, the boy was special. For starters, Igor never invited him to the Velvet Room. During their first encounter, the boy actually managed to physically find it himself. When questioned about how he not only found the room, but managed to enter it without an invitation, the boy shrugged his shoulders and said it just happened. Taking immediate interest in the boy, Igor decided to become his mentor, teaching him about art of summoning Personas while keeping a close eye on him. For once, the man did fully not know what destiny had in mind for someone, only able to see tiny glimpses of his possible futures.

Making sure his apprentice didn't get himself killed while in the real world, Igor had bestowed upon his several powers, including the ability to summon Personas outside the Velvet Room and the world of Shadows, the only two places where most were able to wield such powers. However, he strictly warned the boy to only use his Personas in his world when there was no other option. As for the rest of his powers, as long as he didn't get caught, he was free to do whatever he wanted with them.

Speaking of his apprentice, he had summoned him a bit ago, but it seemed he was running late.

"Ugh, where is that idiot?" A voice which belonged to a girl said, bothered by the fact the boy was seemingly running late. Chuckling to himself, Igor looked up from some tarot cards he was playing with. Standing in front of him were two girls in identical police uniforms. Though they were identical twins, they were easy to tell apart. For starters, each girl had an eyepatch on a different eye. Their hairstyles were different too, with one of the girls deciding to keep her silver hair in a braid while the other chose to keep her silver hair in two buns. Finally, their personalities were different, one being rash while the other was professional.

"Relax Caroline, he should be arriving soon," the girl with the braid told her identical twin sister, which only made her pout.

"But Justine, he's always late," Caroline whined, finding it very disrespectful that an apprentice was keeping their master waiting. What were Caroline and Justine you might ask? Well, they were residents in the Velvet Room as well. Where they came from was a mystery which only Igor knew the answer to, and it was one he wasn't willing to tell. There was really only one piece of information that one needed to know about them though; that it was their responsibility to aid Igor's apprentice, a job they took seriously. In fact, the three of them and Igor were like one big happy family, even though the apprentice spent most of his time on Earth. Why was this the case? Well, Igor wanted to see how the boy functioned in a normal environment, using his powers to create artificial human beings which served as guardians, providing him with all the necessities he needed. To outsiders, they were his parents, but in reality, they were only there to earn money and care for the boy while he was on Earth. His true family was in the Velvet Room. Where was his blood family? No one knew...

Eventually, after waiting three minutes for the boy, he eventually arrived.

"Sorry about that master," Ren said as he awkwardly rubbed his head in embarrassment. Yes, Igor's apprentice was none other than Ren Amamiya. As Igor was about to address him, he saw Caroline walk towards the boy before striking his backside with a police baton. The reason she even had a police baton was due to the fact that each time Ren entered the Velvet Room, it would take the appearance of a prison. Both Ren and Igor knew why this was so, but they never bothered to change this. According to Igor, the boy was simply not ready for what's required for him to do so, which somewhat bothered him. After all, prisons were rather gloomy places to be around.

"Ow! What was that for?" Ren shouted as he covered his now wounded bottom.

"That's for keeping master waiting!" The girl told him before resuming her post next to her sister. Smiling at the scene, Igor then proceeded to speak to his apprentice.

"Greetings my young apprentice. I have summoned you here because I have some exciting news I wish to share with you. It has to deal with the Velvet Room."

Hearing this made Ren's face light up in excitement. "Are we finally going to change this place's look?"

"Indeed," Igor said with a nod. "I believe you are finally ready to confront the demons residing in your heart. As you know, by doing so, you'll be able to change the appearance of the Velvet Room to something more pleasant. But, I must warn you, doing so will be your hardest challenge yet."

"What do you mean?"

"To confront the demons residing in your heart, you'll be required to undergo a transformation known as 'rehabilitation.'" Igor told him, causing Ren to tilt his head in confusion. "What this process contains, I cannot tell you, at least, not right now."

"I'm confused," Ren muttered, a phrase he's said over thousands of times since meeting Igor.

"As you should be. Do keep in mind that I do not plan on hiding anything from you, so you'll eventually receive your answers soon. I can tell you one thing about the rehabilitation process though, if you wish."

"Please do master."

"Understood. As you already know, the bridge between the Shadow realm and your world is weakening…"

Ren nodded upon hearing this. He knew all too well how the shadows have been affecting his world, for they were causing people to have mental breakdowns which in turn has been causing many lethal accidents to occur.

"And if nothing is done, then your world will soon cease to exist," Igor continued. "Of course, you have the option of staying in the Velvet Room if this happens, but only you will survive. There is some good news though, you have the power to stop all of this."

"I do?" Ren asked in disbelief he could actually do something to prevent his world from devastation. Igor nodded in response.

"Yes. As I've told you before, you possess the powers of the Wild Card, a gift which indicates an individual's vast potential. Even so, your power is unlike any I've ever seen. I don't fully understand it myself, but I do understand this, you have yet to awaken your full potential."

Ren gave the man a surprised look. He understood he was powerful, but powerful enough to save the world? It never even crossed his mind. "I haven't? Then how do I go about doing that?"

"If you complete your rehabilitation, then you will surely unlock your ultimate power."

"So all I have to do is complete this 'rehabilitation' process and the world is saved?"

"Don't act like it'll be easy," Caroline told him. "As our master already said, it'll be the hardest thing you'll ever face."

"She is right," Justine agreed. "The rehabilitation process will push you to your limits both physically and mentally."

"Though it will be difficult, you will be receiving help not only from us but from other people as well. If someone proves to be useful to your quest, then I will bestow upon them a Persona as well as the means of transporting themselves to the Shadow World."

"So, what you're saying is that I need to make friends…" Ren stated, somewhat disappointed. As someone who wasn't the most comfortable with social situations, this was a pain to hear. Don't get him wrong, Ren wasn't the type of person who hated people, he just found the whole process of introducing himself to others to be rather awkward to perform.

"Like I've said before, your rehabilitation process is designed to challenge you," Igor said before magically pulling out a folder from thin air. "I assume you know what this is, correct?"

Ren nodded, surprised by what Igor was offering him. "A contract?"

"Yes. You see, by signing this contract, you agree to take full responsibility for whatever you do while you undergo the rehabilitation process. Signing this contract is perhaps the most important part of the process, so if you refuse to sign it, you might as well not even begin. Dishonoring the contract will also end the process. So, what is your decision? Will you choose to take on all the responsibilities which come with the rehabilitation process, or will you choose to continue your life of leisure while the world crumbles around you? Keep in mind, this is your decision and you decision alone. No matter what you choose, it will not sway our opinion of you…"

With little hesitation, Ren grabbed the contract and signed it, for he didn't want to stand by while Shadows continued to destroy his world. Otherwise, what was the point of saving people if they were going to die soon anyways?

When Ren handed back the signed contract to Igor, the old man smiled at him. "The deed has been done. From now on or until you break the contract, you will be undergoing the rehabilitation process, congratulations. Now, we must ask you to leave as we prepare for your trial. We don't want spoilers now, don't we?"

Knowing this as Igor's way of telling him he needed his privacy, Ren waved goodbye to the Velvet Room's residents before leaving. Looking at her master, Justine noticed he looked happier than usual.

"You're excited, aren't you?" The girl asked her master.

"Indeed I am. I eagerly wait to see what he's truly capable of…"

0000

Arriving back to his world, Ren began walking home again, thinking about the whole rehabilitation process Igor mentioned. He honestly had no idea what was to come next. How will his life change as a result of the process? Will he have the strength to abide by the contract? Ren had so many questions, questions he knew he wouldn't get an answer to right now…

"Help! Somebody!" The shout of a woman snapping him out of his thoughts, Ren immediately checked his surroundings, wondering where the source of the voice was, soon realizing the woman was right across the street. Further glancing at the woman, he noticed she was being assaulted by a man eager to satisfy his sexual urges. Neither of them noticed him.

Looking down, Ren began to think about what to do in this situation. For starters, since they were across the street, Ren couldn't just summon his vigilante clothes since the bright light that surrounds him while transforming will alert them of his location. They may even get a glimpse at his identity before he transformed. Perhaps if he were in the shadow world, he'd be able to change into his getup before being noticed, seeing as the whole transformation process actually took a split second there.

His second option was to try and find a hiding spot and transform, but who knows how long the woman could hold on. He wanted to get rid of the man before he could do anything drastic to her.

Sadly, this just left him with one option; run in and play hero. Dashing across the street, Ren gripped the man by the shoulders and tossed him to the side.

"What the fuck!"

As the man got back up, Ren only scoffed at his pathetic behavior.

"Run," Ren told the woman. Scared, the woman did not question her savior and immediately left the scene.

"Damn you! You just let her get away," The man growled in anger, before trying to chase the woman. However, before he could get anywhere, Ren elbowed him in the stomach, causing him to kneel over in pain.

"I'm calling the police," Ren said as he dialed them up. However, instead of being intimidated, the man just started laugh.

"Go ahead, call them! The police are my bitches."

It turns out, the man was right. He was a leading member of a large scale corporation, which meant all he had to do was simply twist the story around to make it seem like Ren was the bad guy. With Ren being only sixteen, he had no say in the matter, leading to his unjust arrest, thus beginning Ren's life as a 'delinquent…'

0000

*One Week Later*

His trial taking nearly a week to complete, it was decided the boy was to face a year's probation. He had also been expelled from school, with Igor having his 'parents' find him a new one. Sadly, it was too far for him to travel to, meaning he had to live with someone else for a bit. Seeing as he was now a documented criminal, the only person who was willing to take him in was a man who was friends with his 'parents.' How this was possible, Ren did not know, but he was pretty sure Igor had done this ahead of time, using them to understand human culture better. They were his puppets after all, meaning he could do whatever he wanted with them.

"Couldn't he have picked someone with a nicer place?" Ren asked himself as he looked at a small house located in one of Yongen-Jaya's many alleyways. Sadly imply put, the place was depressing. The small house was grey in color and appeared to be rusting. Surrounding it was a rusty back fence placed to keep would be trespassers out. Sighing, Ren was pretty sure this was Igor's way of testing him. He was undergoing the rehabilitation process, whatever that meant, so it was expected things would be getting more difficult for him from now on. He was also a 'criminal,' meaning he should be glad someone actually wanted to take him in, otherwise his life would be over.

Knocking on the door, Ren waited a few minutes for his caretaker to open up, only for such a thing to never happen.

"Did I take a wrong turn somewhere?" Pulling out a sheet of paper, Ren glanced at it before turning his attention towards the mailbox attached to the gates. "No, this is definitely Sojiro Sakura's place. I guess he's just not home…"

With Ren now confirming that he was at the right place, he continued to wait for Sojiro, who after five minutes, still has yet to come back to his living quarters. Realizing Sojiro might take a while to come back home, the boy was about to sit down on the sidewalk when a delivery boy arrived, holding a package.

"Huh, looks like he's not here again," the boy said to himself. "He's probably working at his cafe again. Let me see, it was Cafe Leblanc, right? Yeah, it is. Might as well head there now."

Watching the boy leave, Ren decided to secretly follow him. If Sojiro wasn't going to come to him, he might as well go to him. Hiding in the shadows, Ren made sure to stay hidden as he followed the boy, his experience as a vigilante allowing him to do so flawlessly. Eventually, the two arrived at a small cafe in a packed street, where Ren began waiting outside as the boy went in to deliver the package. When the boy exited the cafe, Ren waited a few moments before entering the store himself. Doing so, he was greeted by the sight of several people gathered around, seemingly having a casual conversation about the recent tragedies that have been caused by people spontaneously blacking out. Eventually, a slicked-back dark haired man with a receding hairline, a goatee, and glasses glanced up, noticing the boy. An annoyed sigh escaping his lips, the man waved his acquaintances goodbye before walking towards Ren.

"Right, forgot about today," the man grumbled as he began analyzing Ren with his eyes. "The name's Sojiro Sakura and I'll be watching over you for the next year."

"It's nice to meet you," Ren said, a bit shyly. Just by his body language Ren knew Sojiro wasn't too keen on taking care of him.

"Truth be told, I'd rather not have to look after a delinquent," the man bluntly told him. "But I'm doing this 'cause I know your parents. Now come."

Following Sojiro to the upper level of his cafe, Ren found himself in an extremely messy room. Taking a peak around, he saw there were several boxes scattered around. In addition, there were several books and two tables at the left side of the room. Finally, there was a sofa bed at the room's back right corner. Safe to say, this place was a dump.

"This'll be your room," Sojiro told him. "If you want this place cleaned, you'll have to do it yourself. Also, since you'll be living under my roof, I have some rules for you. First, do not use this place to do anything illegal. Secondly, do not disturb the customers downstairs. Finally, do not damage the building…at all! As long as you obey these rules, then I could care less about what you do up there. Are we clear?"

"Yes sir," Ren said. "Thank you for the room."

Nodding, Sojiro began descending down the stairs. "I'm going downstairs. I'll be back to check up on you before I close shop."

With Sojiro leaving, the boy was now on his own. Looking around, he decided that he might as well start cleaning the place up. While doing so, he began to think about everything that's happened to him so far. Not only had be begun his rehabilitation process, but now he was a documented criminal for doing the right thing. His life was certainly weird before, but now, he could add rough to the description.

"Huh, so you actually tidied this place up," Sojiro asked, having just entered the room. Looking at a clock, Ren realized he was cleaning for four hours now. "I heard you moving some stuff around, but I didn't expect you to actually be cleaning. Well, I'll be going now. Get some rest, tomorrow we'll be visiting your new school to get your schedule. Night."

Waving goodbye, Ren waited until he heard the door close before doing anything else. A quick peek out the window showed Ren that the sun had set, meaning he could sneak out now and patrol the city. Even though he was on probation, he wasn't going to allow this to stop him from being a vigilante.

Snapping his fingers, Ren summoned his Phantom Thief clothing before leaping out the window, ready to kick some ass…

0000

Ever wanted to turn invisible just to avoid a situation? Well, that was how Ren felt like when he visited Shujin Academy for the first time. The principal, a large bald man, immediately made it clear he wanted nothing to do with him. The same went for his soon to be homeroom teacher, a black haired female named Sadayo Kawakami.

The meeting itself was rather short with them basically telling him not to do anything stupid, but the looks of disgust they kept giving him was enough to make anyone feel uneasy. At the same time, ever since he first set foot into the school, he's been suffering from a massive headache. The boy had no idea what was causing it despite having head pains similar to this in the past, but it made him feel restless. Thankfully, the meeting ended up only taking five minutes, meaning Ren didn't have to suffer from it for long.

"You okay?" Sojiro asked, though based on his tone, the man seemed to care little about how the boy was feeling. His headache having died down after the pair began driving away from the school, Ren nodded.

'Again?' Ren mentally asked himself as he held his head in confusion. For some reason, the boy would get headaches in the most random places, receiving one each time he entered them. They would last until he was a certain amount of distance away from said place. Strangely, there'll be times when a place he used to visit with no problems began to give him headaches and vice-versa. He once asked Igor about this, only for the man to tell him it was nothing, which the boy knew was a lie. 'Whatever's causing this to happen, let's just hope it goes away soon. Otherwise, going to school will become a serious pain…'

0000

Having got off the subway the next day, Ren's head began to bother him again, much to his annoyance. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about it right now. He couldn't just stop what he was doing and buy painkillers, he would end up being late to school on his first day. Even if this wasn't a problem, all the painkillers he's taken thus far only seemed to reduce them.

Holding his head, Ren walking, trying his best to ignore his increasing head pains, only for him to realize it was raining upon leaving the subway system. Quickly checking his phone, he sighed in relief seeing it was only a passing shower. According to his phone, the showers should be ending in a few minutes, which meat he could have gotten the painkillers to waste time. Sadly, it was too late to go back now.

Putting his phone back in his pocket, he suddenly noticed from the corner of his eye that a girl who looked to be his age was watching him. The girl stood nearly a head shorter than him and had bright blue eyes and wavy platinum blonde hair styled in bushy pigtails, with parted side bangs on the right side of her face. She was currently wearing a school uniform consisting of a white shirt, a blue jacket wrapped on her waist, black socks with white lining, and dark brown shoes. Finally, she also had a red hairpin and a silver necklace on.

Eventually realizing that he noticed her, the girl blushed in embarrassment at being caught. "Sorry, you just looked like you were in pain. Are you okay?"

Ren nodded in reply, which only made the girl frown.

"You sure? You're clenching your head pretty hard over there."

"I'm fine," Ren said, giving her a small smile. "By any chance, do you have any pain killers on you?"

"No, sorry," the girl answered, upset she couldn't help him. Seeing as her uniform implied she attended Shujin Academy, he was about to ask for her name, only to be interrupted by a white car pulling over. It's window rolling down, it was revealed the car belonged to a muscular man with black curly hair.

"Need a ride?" The man asked the girl. Nodding, she jumped into the car. The man turned his attention towards Ren. "How about you?"

"Heh, no thanks," Ren replied, not wanting to be a nuscanse.

"Eh, suit yourself." As the car began leaving, Ren noticed a depressed frown form on her face. Perhaps he should her ask about it later? Nah, the two didn't even know each other. Doing so would make him seem like a creeper.

"What a fucking pervert," someone grumbled. Turning to his right, Ren boy had taken shelter from the rain next to him. The boy had spiky blonde hair, dark brown eyes, and stood almost a few centimeters shorter than Ren. The boy's outfit consisted of a black blazer, which so happened to be unbuttoned to reveal a yellow t-shirt with a comic style star symbol and the word 'ZOMG!' while simultaneously wearing plaid trousers which also consisted of black and red striped pair of pants which have black suspenders that hung down instead of being worn on his shoulders. Finally, he wore a white belt and white sneakers. Ren didn't even have to look at him to know he was angry. "Seriously, fuck Kamoshida."

"Kamoshida?" Ren asked out loud, not meaning to do so. Having heard this, the boy gave him a confused look.

"Dude, you don't know who Kamoshida is?" The boy asked in disbelief. "How's that possible? He's the most popular person at school, even though he's a teacher. He fucking pisses me off, acting like he's the king of the school and all…"

Seeing as Ren's confused expression only continued to grow, the boy began scratching his head. "Really? I thought you attend Shujin Academy. You should know who he is... Then again, I've never seen you around. Hey! Are you the transfer student?"

Ren nodded, causing the boy to look him up and down. "Huh, you don't seem like a criminal. Meh, whatever, the rain's stopping. We might as well head to school now. Come on, I'll show you the way. Oh, and the name's Ryuji Sakamoto, nice to meet ya."

"My name's Ren Amamiya," Ren greeted, extending his hand, which Ryuji shook. Afterwards, the two boys began to head to school together, with Ryuji casually mentioning how he just wanted to go home already. To be fair, Ren was feeling the same way, especially with this damn headache he has.

0000

"Uh dude, you look ready to puke," Ryuji mentioned as they traversed an alleyway. The closer and closer the two got to the school, the more painful Ren's headache got. In fact, the boy was sure this was the worst his headaches have gotten so far.

Groaning, Ren flashed the other boy a reassuring smile, though it looked more like one of those smiles people gave before they died. "Yeah...I'm good."

After saying this, a sudden blast of pain began to fill his head, causing his eyesight to spazz out for a second, making him see purple. Miraculously, not only did the pain disappear a few seconds later, his headache vanished as well.

"I don't know dude, you almost fell over."

"Huh, I actually feel much better now."

Shrugging his shoulders, Ryuji continued leading Ren to the school, only to stop once they got there. In front of them was a large castle, one where the school was supposed to be located. Looking around, the two boys also noticed the sky was red, which contrasted the cloudiness from earlier.

"What the hell?!" Ryuji shouted in disbelief. "What's this thing doing here? Did I take a wrong turn? No, I've done this too many times to mess up. Come to think of it, I've never seen this place before…"

As Ryuji continued to ramble on, Ren continued to glance at the castle in disbelief. He knew what this place was, having visited much smaller versions of them in the past. However, two things stood out to him. First off, this castle was larger than any he's ever seen. Secondly, he knew where they were, they were in the Shadow World. The castle in front of him was actually a shadow nest, meaning that if this was indeed the school, someone extremely corrupted must value this place. The question was, how did he get here? He certainly didn't remember opening a portal to the Shadow World, only doing so when Igor sent him out on training missions. It wasn't like he could have done it by accident either. Like with the Velvet Room, creating a portal to the Shadow World required time and concentration.

"So how did we end up here?" Ren asked himself. Right now, it didn't matter how they got in here, right now, Ren needed to get Ryuji out of here. Without a Persona, the boy was easy prey for the shadows. Grabbling Ryuji, the boy's hands began to glow purple, causing his aquantence's eyes to widen.

"Dude, what the fuck are you doing?" Ryuji asked as he stared at the boy's hands in disbelief, unable to react in any other way.

"I'm getting us out of here," Ren told him. "You can't be here. It's too dangerous."

"You know this place? Seriously, what in the actual fuck is going on!"

Opening his mouth to reply, Ren shut it upon seeing an armored humanoid with a black mask walking towards them.

'Shit, a shadow," Ren mentally groaned to himself. If he was alone, then he would have ran in there and killed it without hesitation. Sadly, Ryuji was here. Doing so might cause the shadow to target both of them and without a Persona, the boy will die to any magical attack this thing dishes out.

Thankfully, the shadow has yet to notice them. Thinking, the boy decided the best course of action would to bring Ryuji into the castle and search for a safe room, which were sections of a castle which shadows could not enter due to the lack of corruption in said room. Of course, they could hide behind some trees, but truth be told, it would be easy for a shadow to ambush them.

"Ugh, I can't do it here," Ren said before he began dragging Ryuji to the castle. "Listen, I know you have questions and I'll answer them later, but for now, you need to trust me if you want to live."

"I knew I should've ditched school today…"

0000

Entering the castle, Ren pulled out a concealed dagger, something he kept on him at all times. Leading Ryuji deeper into the castle's main hall, staying on high alert for anything which wanted to pop up. However, as he did so, the castle began to fade away, turning into the school's front entrance before fading back into the castle.

"Is this...the school?" Ryuji asked the boy.

"Yes and no," Ren replied. "I'll explain later, when we're not in danger."

"You know, you've been talking about how we're in danger, but you never told me why…"

Opening his mouth to reply, he ended up closing it at the last second, as he saw two shadows approach them, spears ready.

"Halt! You have trespassed the king's grand castle," one of the shadows said. "Such is a crime punishable by death."

"By death!?' Ryuji shouted in fear. "Ren, what the fuck are these things?"

"Shadows," Ren stated as he got his dagger ready. "Stand back, I'll deal with them."

Twirling his weapon in his hand, Ren prepared to summon one of his Personas, only for his increased senses to kick in, detecting something behind him. Turning around, Ren became face-to-face with another pair of shadows, both also having their weapons ready. Before the boy could even react, one of the shadows struck the boy with the blunt end of its spear. With the shadows being on par with Ren's physical strength, the blow was enough to daze him.

"Bring them to the prison," a shadow said as it began picking up the injured boy, with the other shadows grabbing Ryuji. This was the last thing he heard before falling unconscious...

0000

 **Author's note 2: almost forgot to ask, which girl would you like for me to ship Ren with? Let me know in the reviews :-).**


	2. Chapter 2: Escaping Kamoshida's Castle

**Author's note** **: Hey everyone, FireSlash here and welcome to another chapter of 'A Different Kind of Power.' First off, I'd like to thank al of you who've reviewed/favorited/followed this story. Thank you for your support. Now, before we continue, I wish to ask you guys something: which girl should I pair Ren with? I'm really open to all his shipping options, but I want to know what you guys want, so leave a review as for who you want Ren to be with. A poll will also be put up soon, so check my profile for that. Also, just a heads up, Ren will be a high level in this story than in cannon due to his training with Igor (is it the real Igor or is it Yaldabaolth? You'll have to continue reading to find out). Anyways, review and enjoy :-)**

0000

"C'mon dude, don't die on me!"

"Ugh~"

"Seriously, get up. I have no idea what's going on and if you die right now, then I'm probably going to die as well, so you better not be dead! I still want to live dammit!"

"..." Opening his eyes, Ren was greeted with the sight of Ryuji's panicked face, who upon seeing him, let loose a nervous laugh.

"Whew, thank fucking God you're ok," Ryuji said before sighing in relief. Standing up, Ren glanced around in confusion, not knowing where he was right now. Doing so revealed they were in an underground jail cell. Looking at the bars in confusion, Ren tried to rationalize why he was here, his mind still dazed. Seeing this, Ryuji began to explain their current predicament. "After the armored things knocked you out, they brought us here."

Nodding, Ren began to pat himself down, hoping that he had some sort of weapon on him. If they wanted to get out of here, then they'd need to fight. He had his Personas of course, but if things get dicey, then Ryuji will need a way to defend himself. Then again, shadows had the ability to easily kill someone who lacked a Persona and there was no way the yellow haired boy would even be able to dent them. He'd need superhuman strength, something that was granted to all Persona users, though Ren was special in the fact his abilities still worked outside this world...

"Hey, mind telling me what the fuck is going on now?" Ryuji asked the boy. "You seem to know this place quite well, and your hands were doing some weird glowing thing earlier. Like, what the hell is this place? One moment it's the castle and the next moment it's our school..."

"..." Putting a hand to his chin, Ren began thinking of a way to inform Ryuji about the Shadow Realm without confusing him. "This world is known as Shadow Realm, a place which exists parallel to ours-"

"And those...things?" Ryuji interrupted, asking about the shadows.

"...Are Shadows, the only beings which inhabit this world. Shadows exist due to human corruption. In fact, this whole place exists because of the corrupted. Funny thing is, the armored dudes we ran into earlier aren't even their true forms."

Ryuji gulped in fear. "What do they look like?"

"They have different forms depending on the Shadow, and an armored unit usually carries about one to five shadows in them which they release in battle." Looking at his fellow high school student, Ren could tell the information was starting to scare him. Not wanting fear to override the boy, Ren decided to wrap up his explanation. "Basically, all you need to know is that our world influences this place and vice-versa and shadows roam this place, killing anyone who tresspasses. The reason this place is a castle is because someone views Shujin Academy as a place they rule without opposition."

"And what about you? How the hell do you even know about this place?"

"...Let's just say I'm special," Ren told him. "I can hop between this place and our world freely. But why we suddenly came to this world, I don't know."

"Maybe you accidentally opened a portal?" Ryuji asked, only for Ren to shake his head.

"That's impossible. Opening a portal to either world requires a good deal of concentration. There's no way I could of accidentally summoned a random portal while we were walking to school."

"Well, can you get us out of here?"

Nodding, Ren began to concentrate on summoning a portal, his eyes and hands turning purple as a result. However, a few seconds later, small sparks began shooting out of his hands before they stopped glowing. Judging by the questioning expression on the boy's face, Ryuji knew that was probably not supposed to happen.

"Huh, how strange…"

"Uh, why the hell are we still here?" Ryuji asked as Ren tried to summon another portal, only for it to fail again.

"I-I don't know," Ren admitted, a bit worried himself. Truth be told, he's never entered a palace before due to Igor telling him how dangerous they were, and as such, he's never tried creating portals in them. Doing so for the first time, Ren noticed that as he did so, he felt a sense of dread enter him, as if he was absorbing the castle's gloomy atmosphere. This problem never happened outside of palaces, so it was safe for Ren to assume that something in the castle was preventing him from leaving the place via magic.

"AHHHHH!" A shout of anguish snapped Ren out of his thoughts, causing him to notice Ryuji running towards the bars, desperate to see what was going on outside their cell.

"What the fuck was that?!" Ryuji asked. Whether it was directed towards himself or Ren was unclear to the black haired boy. Trying to get another peek at the action, Ryuji's eyes widened in panic. "Oh shit, they're heading right towards us!"

The sound of metal moving confirmed Ryuji's observation, for a few seconds later, four armored shadows were gathered in front of their cell. When one of opened the door, both boys stood back. Filling in the room, the shadows immediately moved to their side as another shadow began entering the room. Compared to the other shadows, this one took the form of a familiar person both boys have met before, with Ryuji getting angry after seeing the shadow. As for Ren, he tried his best to only look at the shadow in the eyes, for he was wearing only a royal cape and pink speedos. Yep, it was a horrifying sight indeed...

"Kamoshida?!" Upon shouting this, the shadow Kamoshida snapped his fingers, causing one of the other shadows to strike Ryuji in the gut with the blunt side of it's spear, causing the boy to collapse in pain. "AGH!"

"Silence you insolent fool," shadow Kamoshida commanded him. "You dare address me, the king, with such nonchalance after breaking into MY castle?"

"Your castle?!" The boy asked in disbelief, only for his shock to leave him a second later. "Actually, that makes sense. You always trotted around the school, believing that you owned the place, you fucking asshole."

"...You've just solidified the both of your deaths," the shadow declared, snapping his fingers. Immediately, two shadows began approaching the boys, only to suddenly stop a second later. "Once again, your actions are responsible for getting other people hurt…"

"The fuck are you talking about?"

"Remember the track team?" The shadow Kamoshida taunted. It seemed whatever happened to the track team was a sensitive topic for Ryuji, for he was now angry.

"That was your fault asshole!" With newfound strength, Ryuji tried to attack one of the shadows, only for it to bash the boy with its shield. A second later, another shadow bashed Ren with its shield as well, making it the second time the boy was caught off guard by a shadow.

"All you had to do was stay silent and do what I say," The shadow taunted again as he snapped his fingers, the other shadows striking him with their weapons a second later. Having recovered from being dazed, Ren tried to stand back up, only to get knocked back down. "But then again, I shouldn't expect trash like yourself to understand."

"God...dammit," Ryuji growled as he spat out blood. This only motivated the shadow to order his subjects to strike the two boys again. "I just wanna go home…"

"As for you," the Shadow said, turning to a still dazed Ren. "It's a shame you had to make friends with this guy. It's probably because of him you're here, about to die. Whatever, start the execution! Begin with the handicapped one."

Hearing this caused Ren to fight off the dizziness faster. There was no way he was going to watch someone die, not if he could do something to prevent such a thing from happening. Putting himself between the shadows and the boy, he simply shook his head as he held his ground. "Neither of us are dying."

"You dare defy me?" the shadow asked in anger. "Then again, I shouldn't have expected anything else from jailbait such as yourself. Whatever, if you're so keen on dying first, then be my guest."

As the shadows prepared to strike Ren, the boy turned to Ryuji. "Can you keep a secret?"

"*Cough,* *cough.*"

"Right. PERSONA!" Upon shouting this, a blue light began surrounding the boy as a spirit began to form behind him. When the light diminished, not only was Ren now in his Phantom Thief costume, but the form of his Persona was finally revealed. The spiritual being had dark purple angel wings, a black top hat with a red stripe, and a black tuxedo with red sleeves. It's face was not visible, being blocked out by its top hat, only a singular glowing red eye being visible. Finally, unlike the blue aura that usually surrounded Ren when he used some of his abilities, the Persona had a red aura surrounding its body.

With the Persona having been summoned, Kamoshida looked at the boy angrily, upset by the sudden development. As for Ryuji, he could only look at the scene, mouth hanging open. Of course, seeing some dude you just met summon some large spirit was enough to stun anyone, but what made this extremely special for Ryuji was he immediately recognized the costume Ren was wearing, that of Japan's very own superhero, the Phantom Thief. Like many people, the boy idolized Ren's alter ego, but Ryuji had no shame in admitting the boy was his hero. As someone who desires to fight corruption himself, there was no reason for him to dislike the Phantom Thief. It wasn't like the vigilante killed anyone…

"Tch, you four, deal with this menace," Kamoshida's shadow ordered as he began to flee. "I must inform the others to be on high alert."

"Your wish is my command," One of the knights declared before all of them exploded, revealing the shadows which made up the armored units. Analyzing them, Ren took into detail the forms they took, which were that of four floating jack-o-lanterns with blue wizard hats and blue wizard cloaks. In addition, each had a white spiritual hand floating to their lefts, a light lanturn being held in their grasps.

'So, four Jack-o-lanterns,' Ren noted in his mind, smiling. Processing a Jack-o-lantern himself, for Personas were the purified versions of shadows themselves, Ren knew they lacked any sort of power and had weaknesses to ice, wind, and some forms of physical damage. In addition, they lacked any form of agility, physical strength, and endurance. The only thing they excelled at was their magical prowess, but so did so many other Personas. This being said, with the Persona's many weaknesses, why did the boy still keep it around? Well, Jack-o-lantern had access to fire damage, being one of the few who did so that weren't above Ren's current power level. Jack-o-lantern also had something no other Persona in Ren's arsenal had, the ability to drain attacks of a certain element, which in its case was fire. This allowed Ren to heal up when hit by fire instead of taking damage, which only worked while he was actively using Jack-o-Lantern of course.

As for the Persona he currently had out, it was known as Arsene. A wielder of curse magic, Arsene was a jack of all trades, though he primarily excelled in agility. He had a rather niche resistance to the rare curse damage while being weak to bless magic, another rare form of magic which was the opposite of curse magic. Arsene used to have a weakness to ice as well, but with help from Igor, Ren found a way to overcome said weakness, the Persona now spouting a useful resistance to the type of damage instead. Not only was Arsene a powerful Persona, it was his personal one, which meant according to Igor, a shadow version did not exist.

"Arsene, let's make this quick," Ren said as he confidently smirked at the shadows. "Eiha!"

"Heh, with pleasure." With absolutely no hesitation, the Persona fired a beam of dark energy at one of the Jack-o-lanterns, killing it instantly. Witnessing their ally go down so fast, the remaining Jack-o-lanterns began to take action, two of them flying towards Arsene while the third one began shaking its lanturn, causing the flame inside to grow.

When the two Jack-o-lanterns got close enough, they began swinging their lanterns at the Persona, using them as if they were a weapon. Sadly for them, Arscene was too fast, avoiding both attacks with ease.

"You'll need to do better than tha-" Ren began to taunt, only for the third Jack-o-lantern to blast Arsene with a small fireball. As a Persona was the physical representation of their summoner's soul, any damage dealt to the Persona was also dealt to their summoners and vice-versa.

Quickly wincing in pain, Ren glared at the Jack-o-lantern who had hit him. "Arsene, cleave!"

Hearing his master's command, the Persona flew forwards and using its wings, slashed at the Jack-o-lantern's face, the damage enough to make it explode. Smiling, Ren then turned his attention to the two remaining Jack-o-lanterns, who were preparing to hit him with their lanterns. Though they were fast compared to the average human, they were quite slow compared to even a rookie Persona user, so Ren was easily able to dodge both attacks by performing a simple backflip.

Having missed their target, both shadows tried to hit him again with their lanterns, but Ren was prepared. Dodging their strikes by side stepping to the left, the boy then pointed to one of the jack-o-lanterns. Understanding what his master wanted him to do, Arsene fired an Eiha at the designated Jack-o-lantern, ending its existence.

"And then there was one," Ren silently said to himself as he began to stare down his foe. Even though it saw Ren completely trash its allies, the shadow wasn't about to give up yet. Making the flame in its lantern glow brighter, the final enemy shot another fireball at Ren, who tried to dodge it, only for the ball of fire to graze his arm, dealing him damage. Not wanting to take anymore unnecessary hits, Ren decided to finish the battle. "Let's end this. Arsene, ravage him!"

Letting loose a small maniacal laugh, Arscene did what he was told, firing one final Eiha at his opponent. The Jack-o-lantern tried its best to avoid the beam of dark energy, but alas, it wasn't quick enough, for the attack ended up nailing it in its face, killing it with ease. With the battle over, Ren began to ease up.

"Whew," Ren sighed, thankful that for whatever reason, Kamoshida's shadow chose to send weak shadows to kill them. Dismissing his Persona, the boy began to check on Ryuji. "Hey, you ok?"

"..." Ryuji continued to stare at the boy in awe, not having heard anything he said.

"Uh, Ryuji?"

"That...was...AWESOME!" Ryuji suddenly exclaimed, startling Ren. "That thing you summoned, Persona I think you called it, was wicked. What even is a Persona?"

"Simply put, it's my soul," Ren informed him.

"Fuck dude, that's cool, you're cool! Not only are you able to create portals, summon your spirit to kick ass, but on top of all that, you're the Phantom Thief!"

When Ryuji said this, Ren glanced at his clothes, having forgotten that he was wearing his Phantom Thief costume during the battle. Snapping his fingers, he dispersed his costume, returning to what he was wearing before. This only made Ryuji's eyes widen in more excitement.

"Man, I have so many questions I want to ask you…"

"Well, first we need to get out of here," Ren told him, causing the boy to remember their current predicament.

"Right. Sorry 'bout that," Ryuji sheepishly apologized.

"It's fine," Ren said before his facial expression turned serious all of a sudden. "Look, I know we just met and all, but I really need you to keep everything you've witnessed today a secret, including me being the Phantom Thief, ok?"

"Of course man," Ryuji said, extending his hand, which Ren shook. "After everything you've done, not only for me today, but for everyone you've saved through your actions as the Phantom Thief, it's the least I can do."

"Thank you." With a nod, Ren began venturing out the jail cell with Ryuji following shortly after, both boys eager to leave this place.

0000

"Damn, the door's locked," Ryuji groaned in irritation. After leaving their cell, the boys discovered they were in an underground dungeon, a small man made river dividing the room in half. Seeing a door on the side they were located, Ryuji and Ren immediately tried leaving through it, only for it to wind up being locked. It was safe to say Ryuji wasn't a happy camper right now. "Shit, how are we going to get out of here?"

Briefly taking in their surroundings, Ren noticed there was a broken bridge near them, the distance between the two pieces being short enough that he could easily jump from one side to the other.

"Uh, what are you doing?" Ryuji asked as he saw his fellow captee take a few steps back. He would soon get his answer as Ren ran forwards, jumping from one side of the underground dungeon to the other. Upon landing safely, Ren extended his hand to the boy, who knew what Ren wanted from him. "You want me to jump? You must be crazy! There's no way I'll be able to make that."

"It's fine," Ren assured him. "I got you."

Taking a deep breath in, Ryuji began to prepare for his jump. Running forwards, he then leaped towards the river, landing on the edge of the platform. Losing his balance, the boy nearly fell into the river, but Ren managed to pull him away. Looking at the river, Ryuji smiled before releasing a self assuring laugh.

"Hahahah, I made it!" The boy shouted, only for Ren to shush him. "Oh, right. Kinda forgot about the shadows. My bad."

After nodding at the boy to reassure him all was fine, Ren looked forwards. Noticing there was a door on this side as well, Ren tried to open it, relieved that it actually wasn't locked. Last thing he wanted to do was resort to blowing up the door, which would definitely end up attracting more shadows.

Unfortunately, the door didn't lead to an exit. Instead it led to another portion of the underground dungeon. Doing their best to ignore the frustration building up in them, Ryuji and Ren began exploring, only to find out this portion of the dungeon seemed to lead absolutely nowhere. However, there was another broken bridge they could use to jump over to the other side. Not having anything better to do, the two leaped to the other side and began exploring. Sadly, there was no door on this side either, making Ryuji start to worry.

"Is there really no escaping this place?" Ryuji asked, only for Ren to shake his head.

"Not from what I know. Palaces always have a way in and out, we just have to find it."

"Well, if you say so."

Exploring the other side from where they came from, the boys eventually found an open cell. Peaking in, Ren noticed a large crack in the wall.

"Find anything?" Ryuji asked as Ren peeked inside the hole. Much to his relief, the crack seemed to lead to another portion of the dungeon. Turning back to Ryuji, the boy smiled.

"I think I found a way out."

0000

Crawling through the hole, Ren and Ryuji found themselves in another part of the dungeon, this one actually seeming to lead somewhere judging by the stairs located at the end of the dungeon. With no guards currently present, the two boys began making their way to the stairs, only for Ryuji to stop upon noticing there were other people in the cells as well, all wearing what seemed to be sports uniforms. Oddly enough, they were not begging the boys to free them. Instead, they appeared to be contempt with being imprisoned.

"Wait, I think I know these people," Ryuji muttered under his breath before his eyes widened in disbelief. "These are members of our school's volleyball team! Shit, we need to help them."

"No thanks, we're fine here," one of the boys said, his face extremely gloomy. "It's just better to do what he says so we don't get punished. Leave us out of whatever you're doing."

"Y-you can't be serious…" Ryuji was about to try to talk some sense into them, only for a shadow to spawn back where they came from, causing Ryuji to panic. "Shit dude, hide."

Using his third eye to analyze the shadow's power level, something it could do along with finding hidden objects and/or enemies, he noticed it was too powerful for him to take on alone. As such, he decided to hide as well.

"Where are those prisoners?" The shadow growled to himself, revealing they managed to catch wind of their escape. Watching it from behind the box Ryuji and him were hiding behind, Ren noticed that as it patrolled the area, it occasionally turned its back towards the box.

"The only way we're going to get out of here alive is if we sneak out," Ren declared. "On my mark, we run."

Ryuji wanted to protest, not liking such a reckless idea, but he realized they had no other choice. Sighing, he ended up nodding towards the boy.

"Good…" Ren mumbled as he continued to watch the shadow. Eventually, it turned around, giving the boys an opportunity to escape. "Go."

Running as fast as they could while trying to stay silent at the same time, Ren and Ryuji managed to make it to the stairs unharmed. Wasting no time, they began making their way up the stairs.

0000

"Ren? What is that?" Ryuji asked the boy. Upon making their way upstairs, they found themselves on the upper portion of the castle's dungeon. Before they could even make a move, the voice of a seemingly young boy began calling out to them. Looking at the source of the voice, they were greeted by the sight of a cartoonish looking black cat standing on two legs.

"I have no idea…" The boy admitted. Though Ren know a lot about the Shadow Realm from Igor, the old man never mentioned anything about what he was currently witnessing. "It doesn't look like a shadow…"

"Of course I'm not," the humanoid cat growled. "I'm a human just like you."

Ryuji gave the cat a confused glance. "But you look like a cat…"

"Ugh, that's because I lost my true form," the cat stated, only confusing the two boys further. "Just help me out of here already!"

"Why should we?" Ryuji asked the cat. "Who knows, you could be an enemy."

"What? I'm not an enemy, promise." Noticing Ryuji didn't seem to be convinced, the cat continued to speak. "How about this, you let me out of here and I get you guys out of here, deal?"

"Wait, you know where the way out is?" Ryuji asked in disbelief, causing the cat to smile.

"Yep. I've been through this castle multiple times before, it's just today I managed to get caught."

Ryuji turned his head towards Ren, curious to see what the boy wanted to do next. "I dunno, should we free him?"

Looking at the cat, Ren didn't feel any hostility emitting from him. In addition, it was true they were lost. Putting his hand to his chin, Ren began to use his third eye technique, trying to find out how dangerous the cat was. According to the blue aura surrounding him, Ren concluded that he had enough firepower to stop the strange thing if it tried anything funny. As such, Ren was willing to accept his offer. "Let's do it. We're lost, so we really don't have anything to lose at this point…"

"Sweet!" The cat happily exclaimed before pointing to a pile of boxes. "Since shadows are kinda dumb, the guards left the keys up there. Think you can get them?"

Nodding, Ren began climbing the pile. Eventually grabbing the keys, Ren hopped down and unlocked the door.

"Whew, it's good to be free," The cat happily shouted before stretching his back. "So, who are you two and how did you get into this world?"

"I'm Ryuji and he's Ren," Ryuji informed him. "And how we got here, I have no fucking clue."

"Really? Eh, whatever," the cat casually stated. "Anyways, I'm Morgana. Now, let's get out of here. I really don't want to be imprisoned again."

The cat then led them towards a nearly lowered drawbridge, which Ryuji clearly didn't like. "I don't think you've realized this, but that drawbridge isn't lowered enough for us to cross."

"Ugh, amatuer," Morgana said, rolling his eyes, pissing off the yellow haired boy. However, Morgana ignored the boy and turned his attention towards Ren. "Hey, you with the frizzy hair, mind pulling that statue's mouth down for me?"

Making his way to a statue of Kamoshida, Ren did what he was told, causing the bridge to lower.

"Heh, see?" Morgana smugly questioned Ryuji. "Always pay attention to your surroundings. That's the first thing they teach you about being a phantom thief."

"Phantom Thief?" Ryuji questioned before motioning towards Ren. "So you're associated with him?"

"Uh, what?" Morgana asked, confused.

"Well, he is THE Phantom Thief and all, so…"

"You're a Phantom Thief?" Morgana asked the boy.

"I think we have different definitions for the term 'phantom thief,'" Ren stated. "Back in our world, I'm a vigilante whom the press started to call the Phantom Thief. Whatever phantom thief business you're thinking of is probably different."

"Oh," Morgana said, somewhat upset that Ren wasn't another Phantom Thief. Shrugging his disappointment away, Morgana began leading the boys across the bridge, only for a shadow to interrupt their progress.

"Halt prisoners!" The shadow shouted, making his way towards the three, spear pointed.

"Damn, looks like we're not leaving unless we deal with him," Morgana said before turning his attention towards the two boys. Eventually, he glanced only at Ren. "Hey, you look like you can fight. Mind helping me out with these guys?"

Nodding, Ren summoned his vigilante cloths as Morgana pulled out a small cutlass. Seeing the shadow explode, the two prepared for battle.

0000

When the armored shadow exploded, two shadows took its place. The first one was another Jack-o-lantern while the second one was a shadow known as incubus. Incubus were small demonic looking shadows who almost always wore a smug grin, exposing its razor sharp teeth. They also had large, bat-like wings, claws on their hands and feet, and a large spike coming from their crotch they constantly gripped. Safe to say, they were quite disturbing.

However, that did not stop Ren from wanting one. Among the three Personas the boy currently possessed, he had one weak to ice, two weak to wind, one weak to some forms of physical damage, and one weak to bless damage. Adding Incubus would mean he would have now have two Personas weak to bless damage and two Personas weak to some forms of physical damage. Thankfully, Incubus have a skill which to Ren as quite valuable, drain life. Drain Life always dealt a specific amount of damage and healed the user by the same amount. While his third Persona could heal, it wouldn't be wise of him to send it out against something with wind attacks, something Incubus didn't have as a weakness. If anything, he could fuse Incubus with another Persona in the future, passing down the drain life skill to whatever he ends up creating.

Looking at the two shadows, Ren realized his best bet at recruiting the shadow would be to kill his alley, intimidating him. That way, the shadow would be more willing to come along.

"Think you can take the one on the left?" Ren asked the cat, who smirked in response.

"Oh please, this'll be a cake walk," Morgana declared as the Jack-o-lantern began charging a ball of fire. "Oh no you don't. Zorro, Garu!"

Shouting this, a large armored spirit began to appear behind him. The spirit appeared to resemble an outlaw often seen in hispanic media, having a black cape, sharp yellow eyes, and a form which seemed to resemble that of a bullfighter. In addition, it held a rapier in its left hand. Waving it around, it summoned a small yet powerful stream of air, its power being enough to kill the Jack-o-lantern.

"It's almost crazy how good I am," Morgana confidently stated.

"Wait, the cat has a Persona?" Ryuji asked in disbelief, only to anger Mogana.

"I told you I'm not a cat," Morgana shouted in anger. Meanwhile, Ren was prepared to strike the other shadow.

"Not bad, but let me show you how it's done." Clutching his mask for a second as it began glowing, Ren decided to switch Personas, knowing full well Arsene would easily one-shot the Incubus. "Agathion, let's do this!"

Agathion was a small blue humanoid who's lower body was concealed by a golden pot. It also had large yellow eyes with red pupils. Compared to the likes of Arsene and even Jack-o-lantern, Agathion was small.

Watching the Persona come out of the boy's body, Ryuji tilted his head in confusion. "Uh dude, didn't you use another Persona before?"

"Other Persona?" Morgana asked as he stared at the black haired boy in shock. Never has he heard of someone who could wield multiple Personas. Last time he checked, that was supposed to be impossible for someone to accomplish.

Staring at the Incubus, Ren snapped his fingers. "Zio!"

"Sure mister," the Persona said in a childish voice before zapping the Incubus with a small bolt of lightning. With the shadow being weak to electricity, it was knocked prone.

"Nice job hitting it's weakness," Morgana said before he pointed his cutlass at the shadow. "Now, let's end this."

Morgana was about to summon his Persona, only for Ren to stand in between the two, causing the cat to look at him.

"What are you doing? You do know this thing will kill us once it gets up, right?"

"Yeah, but I kinda need it," Ren stated as he ran towards the shadow, leaving behind two confused individuals.

"What's he doing?" Ryuji asked the cat.

"I-I have no idea," Morgana admitted as he watched Ren hold a conversation with the Incubus. A few seconds later, the Incubus turned into a spiritual mask, which was then absorbed into the mask he was currently wearing.

"Sorry about that," Ren sheepishly said, walking back to his allies.

"Dude, what did you do to that shadow?" Ryuji asked.

"Oh, I convinced it to lend me its power," Ren casually told him, causing both Ryuji and Morgana to look at him with an awestruck expression.

"Damn, you seem to be full of tricks."

"B-but that shouldn't be possible," Morgana declared. "A person can only wield one Persona."

"Actually, some people can have more than one," Ren informed him. "It's just extremely rare. Other than me, there's only four other people who can summon multiple Personas."

"And how many do you have?" Ryuji asked curiously.

"Four. Funny thing is, I can currently wield up to ten right now and that number will change soon."

"I-I can't believe it!" Morgana stated. "I've been in this world for quite some time now and I didn't even know that was possible. Hmm, I should have him help me with my grand plan…"

"What was that?" Ryuji asked, the cat having mumbled that last part under his breath.

"Nothing," Morgana hastily replied before he began walking again. "Let's get moving. You guys still want to get out of here, right?"

"Am I the only one who feels he's hiding something from us?" Ryuji whispered to his fellow human.

"Not at all."

0000

"See? I kept my word," Morgana told the two boys upon leading them to the castle's front entrance, the same place they were at before being knocked out. "Told ya you could trust me."

Seeing the exit, Ryuji sighed in relief. "Whew, thank God. Let's get the fuck out of here already!"

"Through the front door? Man, I knew you were an amatuer," Morgana mockingly told the boy, frustrating him.

"And why the hell not?"

Morgana rolled his eyes. "All the shadows have probably been alerted about our escape by now. If we leave through that door, there's a good chance we'll run into some more shadows. We don't want that now, do you?"

"So, how do we leave?"

"Simple, I've secured an infiltration point," Morgana boasted. "Like I've said before, I've been through this castle multiple times."

"Yet you still managed to get captured…"

Morgana opened his mouth to reply, but before he could do so, the sound of feet running began echoing through the hall, an armored unit revealing itself less than a second later.

"Ah, I found the prisoners," The shadow stated before pointing its spear towards the three.

"You know, I don't even know why they have that stuff if it just disappears when you guys fight them," Ryuji whispered to the two Persona users. Ren had to admit the boy had a point, the spears and shields they carried were practically useless.

"SILENCE!" The shadow yelled. "What gives you the right to open your filthy mouths in our king's elegant castle? I'll end you for your insolence!"

"Wow, looks like we got a stiff one here," Ryuji muttered before stepping back as the armored shadow exploded. Doing so caused two shadows to form, taking the form of two small fairy girls, shadows Ren recognized immediately. Known as Pixies, these shadows lacked any sort of physical strength while having slightly below average endurance and magic. They excelled primarily at being agile. In terms of the type of magic they specialized in, they mainly used supportive magic, relying more on healing and buffing allies instead of attacking opponents, though they did have the ability to use electric attacks if necessary. Sadly, Pixies weren't even worth using as a Persona. Anything they could do, Agathon could do better. In addition, they had common weaknesses to certain forms of physical damage and ice damage while also having a weakness to curse damage. Their only resistances were to electricity, which Agathon also had, and the rare bless damage. As such, Ren never really bothered with them.

"You're so dead," One of the Pixies declared as it began charging up a zio. As it did so, Ren quickly switched his Persona to Arsene before summoning him.

"Arsene, ravage them!"

Quickly yet skillfully, Arsene fired a powerful Eiha as the Pixie fired her zio, the two attacks meeting head on. Fortunately, since Arsene was at a much higher level than his opponent, his attack was able to push hers back, resulting in the Pixie getting hit. Being weak to curse damage while also being naturally frail, the Pixie was easily destroyed.

Not wanting to be left behind, Morgana began to summon his Persona. "Come forth my other self and strike that shadow with a nice Garu!"

"You really think that'll def- AHHH!" The Pixie mocked, believing it could take the attack, only to be proven wrong when it actually hit, it being just enough to kill her.

Looking at the fallen shadows, the three boys came to the same conclusion, that battle was too easy.

"Well, with those things gone, shall we?" Morgana asked his companions. Both boys nodding in agreement, the three of them continued forwards.

0000

"Well, here we are," Morgana declared, having led the two boys to one of the castle's many rooms. Looking around, Ryuji couldn't find an exit.

"A dead end? Really? I knew we couldn't trust you," The boy growled, causing the cat to facepalm.

"Wow, you're sad," Morgana replied before pointing to a broken ventilation shaft, its size being enough for all of them to go through. "Use you eyes moron, that's our ticket out of here."

"Oh, I knew that."

"Sure you did. All we need to do is climb this bookcase and we're home free. Oh, and don't worry about it falling over. It's attached to the wall."

Not wasting any time, Morgana managed to skillfully scale the bookcase before hopping through the hole. Helping Ryuji do so as well, Ren then did the same, glad to finally be able to leave this hell hole.

0000

"Whew, we're finally free!" Ryuji stated with glee. "Now we can get back to our world."

"Yeah, it feels good," Ren said before facing Morgana. "Thanks."

"Heh, no problem. Thank you for freeing me. Now, I'll be off." With that, Morgana began re-entering the castle, much to Ryuji's surprise.

"What the hell? Why the fuck are you going back in there?"

"Let's say I've got some unfinished business," Morgana told them. "Whelp, I'm out. Again, thanks for everything."

"What a weirdo," Ryuji muttered before turning his attention towards Ren, the boy attempting to create a portal back to their world. "Any luck?"

"..." Staying silent, Ren was eventually able to successfully open a portal. "I got it."

"Sweet! Let's leave before another shadow decides to bother us."

"Agreed."

0000

Leaping through the portal, the two boys found themselves back in their world, in the same alleyway Ryuji was leading them down earlier. Though Ren was a bit disappointed he couldn't transport them closer to the school, Ryuji couldn't be happier to be out of that terrifying world.

"YES! WE'RE BACK!" The boy shouted with glee, causing the Persona user to cover his mouth. The last thing he wanted was to attract any unwanted attention.

"Hush, not so loud!"

"Right, sorry," Ryuji sheepishly apologized before pulling out his phone. "Hey, what time is it? Damn, looks like we've been in the Shadow Realm for four hours."

Looking at the boy's phone, Ren saw it was currently 11:00 am. "Crap, we're late for school."

"Huh, looks like we are," Ryuji casually said before giving Ren a serious look. "Hey man, thanks again for everything. Also, you don't need to worry about me spilling the beans about that world or you being the Phantom Thief."

"Thanks," Ren said with a friendly smile. "That means a lot. Now, can you show me where the school is? I'm still the new kid and all..."

"Right, it's this way." With Ryuji taking the lead, the two boys began making their way to the school, having no problems doing so much to their relief. After a few minutes, they managed to arrive, only to notice that a very angry principal was outside. Upon noticing the two boys, the man began to frown.

"Well, look who finally decided to show up," The man snarked, shaking his head. "You know, being late on your first day isn't exactly starting off strong. Perhaps we were wrong to accept you. As for you Ryuji, you do realize this is unacceptable as well, right?"

"Shit, I was really hoping we would be able to sneak inside," Ryuji muttered.

"So, why were you boys late?''

"Uh, our train was late," Ryuji hastily declared, obviously trying to hide the truth.

"What's going on out here?" A familiar voice asked. A second later, the real Kamoshida appeared, causing Ryuji to scowl.

"Kamoshida doesn't share memories with his shadow," Ren whispered as the principal told Kamoshida what was happening. "He has no idea about what happened in the Shadow Realm."

"Since this is their first offense, I think we should let them off with a warning," Kamoshida recommended, obviously trying to act like the 'cool teacher' to the principal.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it's fine."

"Well boys, looks like you're off the hook, for now," The principal informed them. "However, next time you're late, I will be forced to take disciplinary action, are we clear?"

"Yes sir," Both boys said at the same time.

"Good. Now behave."

"Damnit I hate how we were saved by that ass," Ryuji muttered to Ren as the two adults began walking away. "Anyways, I gotta get to class. See ya around!"

Ryuji then jogged into the school, leaving Ren behind. A few seconds later, Ren began walking into the school, eager to get the day over with.

0000

"Class, this is Ren Amamiya," Miss Kawakami informed her class, introducing the boy to her class. After entering the school, Ren immediately went to the front office to pick up his schedule. Thankfully, he ran into Miss Kawakami while doing so who guided him to her classroom after giving him his schedule. Personally, Ren was quite uncomfortable right now, since all eyes were on him. He wasn't someone who excelled at social situations, so the most he could muster up was a small wave to the class. It didn't help his anxiety that people were already talking about him.

"That's the new kid? Doesn't seem like a criminal to me."

"Wow, late on the first day. The kid must be as hardcore as we thought."

"He looks so shy, but I bet he's the type to blow up when angry."

"Hmm, let's see," Miss Kawakami mumbled as she tried to find an empty seat, eventually managing to find one. "Ren, you can sit behind Ann."

Looking at where she was pointing, Ren was surprised to see that the person he was assigned to sit behind was actually the same girl he had encountered earlier. Everyone's eyes still on him, the boy began to make his way to his seat. Upon passing Ann, he heard her mumble something in anger

"Lies."

Though Ren wanted to ask her if that was directed at him and what she meant by that, he decided against doing so, not wanting to draw attention. Instead, he took his seat as Miss Kawakami began her lesson.

0000

With his first day having done without much problem, Ren prepared to leave, but as he began walking through the hallway, he was stopped by Miss Kawakami, who wanted to speak to him.

"I heard you came to school with Ryuji Sakamoto," the teacher said, causing Ren to nod. "I see. Well, for your sake, I wouldn't recommend hanging out with him. He's a troublemaker and with your reputation, the last thing you need is to be associating with people like him."

Tilting his head, Ren was about to ask what she meant about Ryuji being a troublemaker, only to be interrupted by the boy in question.

"Yo Ren, what's up?"

"Speak of the devil," Miss Kawakami said before she began walking away. "Just remember what I said."

"Man, what was that about?" Ryuji asked, earning a shrug in response. "Whatever, could you follow me to the roof for a sec?" Receiving a nod in response, Ryuji smiled. "Cool, follow me!''

0000

Directing Ren to the roof, Ryuji began speaking. "Thanks for meeting me up here. I just wanted to thank you for helping me leave that awful place. You were a fucking badass back there."

"Thanks," Ren said. "But you shouldn't discredit yourself. Most people would've completely shut down with fear upon witnessing all that you have."

"Heh, thanks man. Hey, mind if we hang out tomorrow?" Ryuji asked. "There's a lot of stuff I really want to ask you. I'd do today, but I'm kinda busy at the moment…"

"Sure, I'd like that," Ren answered, glad for an opportunity to make a friend.

"Sweet! Well, I'm going to head out now. See you tomorrow!"

"See ya."

0000

With the day over, Ren immediately went straight home, where after speaking to Sojiro, he went straight to bed. As he drifted to dreamland, he found himself in the Velvet Room.

"Greetings," Igor said once he took notice of Ren's entrance. "You are currently asleep in the real world, I have summoned you here through your dreams. So, how is your rehabilitation process going along?"

"It's going well master," Ren replied. "Even though I have no idea what's going on."

"Don't fret, that is to be expected," Igor informed his apprentice. "All you need to do is react properly to all that happens around you. Understand that and you'll surely succeed in completing the process. Things will get harder from here, but remember that there will be multiple 'right' paths you can choose."

"But how will I know what is right and wrong?" Ren asked.

"That will be up to you to figure out," Igor told him. "You are about to wake up, so I must bid you farewell. Come back soon…"

With that, the Velvet Room began to fade out of existence, leaving Ren with more questions than answers, as per usual…

0000

 **Author's note 2: After each chapter, I'll be posting Ren's level, Personas, and equipment I might do so with the other characters in the future.**

 **Ren**

 **Level: 10**

 **Current Personas: Arsene (lv 10), Agathon (lv 7), Jack-o-lantern (lv 6), Incubus (lv 5)**

 **Equipment: Prisdagger**


	3. Chapter 3: Ryuji's Awakening

**Author's note:** **Hey everyone, FireSlash here and welcome to another chapter of 'A Different Kind of Power.' Before we begin, I would like to thank everyone who's shown support for the story so far. It means a lot to me. Second, I'd like to address some constructive criticism. Someone mentioned that since this is a fanfic, I shouldn't waste too much time describing the appearances of characters other than OCs since you all already know what they look like. It adds unnecessary exposition dumps. Rereading the two chapters, I realize this person is right, so I'll do my best to lower the amount of exposition dumps from now on :-). Also, for those of you who are wondering why Justine and Caroline are in the story instead of Lavenza, that'll be explained later, so don't worry. Finally, ships are still being decided, so vote for who you want Ren to end up either in the reviews or on the poll I created (polls alternate each week, so you may have to wait a bit). So far, Makoto is winning with two votes while Ann and Futaba are second with one vote each.**

 **Now with all that being said, let's get to the story. Review and enjoy :-)**

0000

"Sorry, come again?"

"I said I wanna go back to the Shadow Realm!" Ryuji hollered at the boy. The day after their run-in with Kamoshida's castle, Ryuji asked Ren to meet him at the school's rooftop. Curious, the boy decided to check out what his new friend wanted to tell him, not expecting it to be that he wanted to return to such a horrible place. They nearly died last time they entered the Shadow Realm, the only reason they survived was because Morgana was conveniently locked up as well. Though Ren was powerful, he knew the castle had stronger shadows scattered around, not to mention that Kamoshida's shadow himself would have definitely been a bit too much for the combined forces of Morgana and him. Thankfully, the shadow was too much of a coward to face them head on, instead relying on his minions to do all the work. Yet, despite that, the yellow haired boy still wanted to go back, but what for?

"Why?"

"Well, remember those kids we saw while we were in the dungeon? Are we seriously just going to leave them? I for one want to save them!"

"Bad idea," Ren replied, shaking his head. "They aren't real, just figments of Kamoshida's imagination."

"...Well now I feel stupid," Ryuji slouched, only for his eyes to lighten a second later. "Hey, can't we go back in there to take some pictures of the kids being tortured and send it to the police?"

Ren shaked his head again. "No one's going to believe us if we do. And cameras don't work in there."

"Damnit! Maybe you can rough up Kamoshida a bit as the Phantom Thief? Surly something will be done if the world famous vigilante is involved…"

This earned yet another head shake from the vigilante. "I need proof that he's committing a crime. From what it looks like, Kamoshida's doing all this in private. Now, if we could get people to speak up as witnesses or victims of his crimes, then that idea will work."

"Shit," Ryuji growled. It was clear as day that he wanted the guy to pay for his crimes. "I didn't get a chance to see who was in there...wait, I got an idea!"

Even though Ren knew where he was going with this, he allowed his friend to speak. "We already have a way to infiltrate the castle without getting caught and after all we've been through in there, it's safe to say we can remember how to get out, so what if we go in, memorize some of their faces, and grab some witnesses! Good plan, am I right?"

Looking down, Ren began to think. On one hand, this was possibly the best way to stop Kamoshida's reign of terror. On the other hand, the two could die. More importantly, Ryuji could die. While Ren obviously cared for his life, if he got someone killed because of his actions, then he would never forgive himself. In addition, he would have to take Ryuji, for the boy probably knew a good portion of the school, which will come in handy seeing as some of the shadows will just be placeholders for the students Kamoshida didn't bother to memorize. As such, the only thing he could do is bring the kid along.

"...Fine, we'll go back in..."

"Yes!"

"...tomorrow."

"What! Why?"

"If we're going to do this, then we need to be prepared. I've never infiltrated a castle before, so I'll need to buy supplies to compensate for that."

"Ugh, fine!" Ryuji sighed in defeat, only for Ren to smirk at him.

"Don't worry, something tells me you'll like what I'll be buying. I just have a quick question, do you know a place that sells fake weapons?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"Cool, can you show me where it is?"

"Sure." With that, the two boys began making their way to the big city with Ryuji being extremely confused as to why the Persona user wanted fake weapons to begin with…

0000

"Well, here it is," Ryuji said, having led Ren to an Airsoft shop located in Shibuya named 'Untouchable.' With it being located in an alleyway, Ren was amazed the boy even knew this place existed. "I've never actually been inside though…"

Nodding, Ren immediately opened the door and was greeted with the sight of various military equipment piled around. Though they looked realistic, a good look at some of the equipment was enough to determine they were only models. Taking a quick glance around, Ren noticed there only seemed to be one person in the store, a man with a gecko tattoo on the left side of his neck who was lazing behind the cash register. Since he was obviously the owner of this fine establishment, Ren began making his way to him.

"What do you kids want?" the man asked, not bothering to look at them.

Ren gave him a calm smile. "We'd like to buy some stuff."

Looking upwards, the man quickly eyed the two. Seriously, what were two children doing here? "None of what I'm selling are toys, so if that's what you're looking for, then scram."

"We know."

The man stared at them quizzingly for a moment before responding. "...Tch, whatever. As long as you're paying, then I could care less about what you buy."

"Thank you."

Investigating the products being sold in the store, it didn't take Ren long to find something he liked. Placing a Levinson M31 and a pair of shoulder pads, the boy handed the man the appropriate money. After counting the money, the man took it and handed Ren the bought gear.

"Is that all?"

"For now," Ren replied, earning another glance from the man.

"...You're a strange kid, you know that?"

Ren rubbed the back of his head. "I get that a lot." He wasn't lying, his silent nature often caused him to look strange in the eyes of others wherever he first meets them.

"I bet you do," He said as Ren began walking out the store, having finished shopping. "Have a good night."

0000

When the two teens exited the store, they began making their way to the train station. It was getting a bit late, and Ren really wanted to get some rest in before they infiltrated the castle again.

"So, you still haven't told me why you bought all those stuff," Ryuji spoke as they entered the subway station.

"It's for you to defend yourself," Ren answered, earning yet another look of confusion from the blonde.

"Uh, those are fake, remember?"

"Yeah, but they work differently in the Shadow Realm. When you bring a toy gun into their world, they're able to fire real bullets."

"You serious? How the hell's that possible?"

"I don't know," Ren answered truthfully. He had tried getting asking Igor about this before, but he never understood the explanations given to him by his master. "I only know the guns seem to be preloaded and start working like the real things whenever you enter the Shadow Realm. When you leave though, the bullets disappear and the weapons become fake once again. The shoulder pads I bought also change in the shadow world. Somehow, they're able to withstand the attacks coming from Shadows."

"...The shadow Realm makes no sense," Ryuji said, dumbfoled by the explanation.

Ren chucked in agreement. "You're not wrong there. I hardly understand it either." He then gave the boy the bag of goods he bought from the store. "Make sure you bring this with you tomorrow. Oh, and try to hide it from your parents. Last thing I need is to be accused of arming someone. I'm already a criminal…"

"Hah, don't worry," Ryuji replied, giving him a thumbs up. "I got your back. I may not look like it, but I know how to keep a secret."

"Considering you haven't told anyone about 'you know what,' I believe you."

Their train arriving a second later, the boys began talking to one another about trivial topics, not wanting anyone on board to know of their plans. Of course, they'd think the two boys were talking about a video game or something, but they weren't going to take that chance. Who knows if there were others who knew about the Shadow Realm…

0000

The next day, Ren made his way back to the school roof, ready for the mission. He expected to be the first one up there, but was surprised to see Ryuji was already there waiting for him.

You know, now that he thought about it, it did make sense why Ryuji managed to beat him. He did hang back a bit to ask Miss Kawakami about some of the material taught today, much to her surprise. It wasn't a secret she still believed him to be a delinquent.

"Took ya long enough," the blonde said, dropping a bag on the floor. Opening it, he pulled out the shoulder pads Ren had given him and began putting them on his body. "I'm ready when you are."

"Just remember," Ren began saying as he started creating the portal to the Shadow Realm. "This is a stealth mission. You're not allowed to fight the shadows unless I'm nearly dead or one of them tries to attack you." Having finished making the portal, Ren handed his friend a small box. "Here, take these."

"Tylenol?" Ryuji asked. "How's this going to help?"

"Medicine works differently there as well," Ren told him. "Somehow these things can heal broken bones."

"Damn, wish they could do that here," Ryuji mumbed, eying his leg for some reason. "These things hardly do what they're supposed to when I have a small headache."

"I feel ya," Ren chuckled. "C'mon, let's get going already before someone catches us."

Giving each other a small nod, the two boys leaped inside the portal, it closing behind them a second afterwards.

0000

"You guys again?" Morgana asked in disbelief. Upon entering the Shadow World, Ryuji and Ren snuck back into the castle through the infiltration point they escaped from last time. Unknown to them, Morgana had decided to hide out in the room as well, needing to catch his breath. "What are you doing here? Do you have a deathwish or something?"

"What?! No! We're trying to stop Kamoshida," Ryuji explained, only for Morgana to facepalm.

"You don't even have a Persona moron. You're better off trying to fight him in your world. What in the Shadow World do you think is going to help a powerless person such as yourself?"

"Simple, witnesses. We're going back to the dungeon to get a good look at the people imprisoned there and when we get back to our world, we'll talk their real selves. Hopefully they'd be willing to tell the police everything."

"That has got to be the dumbest idea I've ever heard…"

"It's the only plan we got," Ren admitted, kind of ashamed of having such a barbaric plan. "But we've got nothing else and Kamoshida needs to be stopped. He may not own an army of shadows in our world, but he's been abusing kids for the longest now without consequence. If we even try opposing him right now, we'll just end up getting crushed."

Looking at Ren, the strange cat was able to see the amount of determination radiating from his eyes. This caused him to sigh. "You're lucky I need you Frizzy hair."

"Huh?" Ren tilted his head in confusion, not understanding what the cat meant. They only met once, how could he need him already? In fact, what does even he need him for?

"We all know you two hardly know how to navigate this maze of a castle. I'll tell ya what, I'll help you with your little suicide mission, but only of Frizzy hair here promises to help me later. Sound good?"

"I'd be willing to listen to you," Ren replied, crossing his arms. He couldn't take the offer without knowing what he was agreeing to help the cat with. For all he knows, it could be something bad.

"...You're smart, I like that," Morgana said with a smirk. "Fine, I accept your terms. Now, let's get going already. The quicker we get this done, the less likely we'll die."

With the deal being made, Morgana began to take the lead, Ren and Ryuji following close behind.

"Are you really going to listen to him?" Ryuji whispered to his friend. Sure, Morgana did help them out last time, but for some reason, the blonde was having a bit of a hard time trusting him. It was probably because Morgana could be a creation of the Shadow Realm. Talking cartoon looking cats don't just come from nowhere, and based on some of the appearances of the various shadows he's seen so far, Morgana does seem like he would fit in with them just fine.

"It's only fair that I do," Ren replied, pointing to the boy's gun a second later. "Keep your gun out at all times and remember what I said, only fire if absolutely necessary."

"Yeah, yeah. I know."

0000

True to his word, Morgana began leading them to the dungeon, which only required the climbing down a large spiral staircase, making both Ren and Ryuji feel slightly embarrassed they didn't figure that out the first time. Once they reached the bottom, Morgana signaled them to hide behind a wall as he popped his head out of the corridor. Doing so allowed him to witness two guards watching over the prison hall they needed to traverse through.

"There's two guards blocking our path," Morgana informed the boys. "Before we do anything, do any of you know how to ambush shadows?"

"Uh, don't you ambush the like you would a normal enemy?" Ryuji asked as Ren shrugged his shoulders. When it came to fighting shadows, he only made sure to attack them when they lacked allies. Even then, he relied more on his agility than stealth to gain the advantage. When rushing into battle, Ren always made sure to get the first hit, for if the shadows did, it would cause him to stagger, giving them time to ambush him. Because of this, Ren gave Morgana a look of interest, wanting to know how to make fighting shadows easier.

"Wow you're a moron," Morgana groaned, earning a huff from the boy. "If you just tip toe towards them, they'll just notice you. Instead, you got to hide in the shadows, leaping only when the time's right, a skill all Persona users have. Watch."

Without any sort of warning beforehand, Morgana dived behind a crate, blending into the shadows as if he was a ninja. He continued leaping through the shadows casted by the crates littered around the halls until he was near the shadows. Waiting a few moments for one of them to leave, Morgana hopped on the remaining shadow's face, catching it off guard as he ripped it's mask off, two horned horses taking its place.

"And that's how you ambush like a pro," Morgana boasted as Ren ran towards him to help fend off the shadows, Meanwhile, Ryuji hid behind a box for cover.

Taking a good look at the horned horses, Ren recognized them to be Bicorns. Bicorns were primarily physically oriented with great agility. They also had decent magic, specializing in wind magic, but it was nothing really too special. In addition, they resisted curse damage and were weak to electricity. In general, they were great Personas to use in combat, and the wind coverage was something the boy needed.

"Hey Morgana, mind keeping one alive for me?"

Morgana opened his mouth, preparing to ask the boy why on Earth he would ever want to allow a Shadow to go free, but he ended up closing it, remembering how Ren got that Incubus to join his side. "Gotcha, just make sure it doesn't kill us."

"You can count on me." Snapping his fingers, Ren summoned his Phantom Thief costume, Morgana attacking one of the shadows while he did this.

"Come forth my other self, Garu!" The cat shouted as his Persona began to appear behind him. With a quick wave of its sword, Zoro launched a powerful gust of air, damaging one of the Bicorns.

Clutching his mask, Ren began summoning Agathion, wanting to exploit the Bicorn's weakness to electricity. "Ravage them! Zio!"

"Alrighty~" With a childish laugh, Agathion began charging up energy before releasing it at the damage Bicorn, making it blow up instantly. After doing so, Ren wasted no time in allacking his ally, for hitting an enemy's weak point somehow allows someone to fire off another attack at blinding speeds, yet another thing Ren didn't understand but never bothered questioning.

"You're mine."

Knowing full well what his master wanted, Agathion fired another Zio, this time purposely making it weaker so that it didn't kill the shadow. With it now kneeling on the floor, Ren and Morgana began surrounding it, making sure it didn't try anything funny. Closing its eyes, the shadow prepared for his death, only for it to never come.

Reopening his eyes, the shadow shot Ren a puzzled glance. "Well? What are ye' waitin' for? You won, end this already."

"Do you really want to die?" Ren asked the Bicorn. "I'm willing to let you live if you lend me your power."

Hearing this caused the Bicorn to snort. "...A bad rep spreads like wildfire. If I were you, I'd quit whatever nonsense you're doing right now. What's the point?"

Immediately, Ren's mind began thinking about how to answer this question. He wanted to convince the Bicorn to tag along with him and based on how he answered the question would determine if he was worthy of receiving his power. With the Bicorn having asked such a question so bluntly, Ren felt it deserved an equally blunt answer. "I don't care if there ends up being a point in what I do. As long as I try, I'm satisfied."

It seemed he relatively liked that answer, for he asked he gave the boy a nod before asking a second question. "...Hey, yer kina skinny, ain't you? I hear even men go on diets too...what do you usually eat?"

...To Ren, the shadows sometimes didn't make any sense. Whenever he bothered negotiating with them, they'd sometimes ask these random questions even though the two were trying to kill each other earlier. Personal questions like the first one the boy understood, but something like this? Why was what he ate a priority? "Uh, vegetables really…"

"Hmph, you know, you remind me of myself when I was younger…" The Bicorn admitted before his eyes widened. "Now that I think about it...I'm not just some shadow. I am Bicorn. As thanks for helping me remember who I am, I will gladly lend you my power."

Now a part of Ren's Personas, the Bicorn turned into a near identical version of the boy's mask, being absorbed into the actual one a second later.

With combat having finished, Ryuji left his hiding spot and ran up to the two Persona users. "Dude, that ninja thing you did was sick!"

"Yeah, I know I'm awesome and all, but would it kill you to keep your gushing at a lower volume?"

"I try to be nice to you and this is what I get…"

"Guys, focus," Ren whispered to them. "We got a mission, remember?"

Morgana gave Ryuji a sly smile. "Yeah Ryuji, focus." Ignoring the boy's protests, Morgana began walking forwards. "Let's go."

0000

After the corridor, the only thing separating them from where the prisoners were kept was a small bridge. They were able to cross the bridge with ease, but upon doing so, the three began to hear three voices coming from the direction they needed to go. Based on how they kept getting louder, it was easy to tell they were getting closer to them.

"We cannot let the intruders mess anything up!"

Ryuji shot his two allies a worried glance. "Shit, what now?"

Worried himself, Ren began glancing around, hoping to find somewhere to hide. Three armored shadows were too much for the boy to handle, unless they each had one shadow in them, but that was highly unlikely. Unfortunately, they were out in the open with nowhere to hide. Well, there was a room next to them, but what's stopping them from searching there.

"Can it be?" Morgana asked himself, noticing the door as well. "Quickly, in here!"

"What good will that do when they can jus-"

"No time to explain, just trust me," Morgana interrupted before swiftly entering the room. Having no other options, the two boys simply followed him inside.

Upon entering the room, Ren found himself feeling different. He didn't know how to describe it, but it was almost as if the dread he felt every time he entered the Shadow Realm was gone.

Meanwhile, Morgana sat on top of the sole table located in the room, allowing himself to relax a bit. "Welcome to the safe room."

"Safe room?" Ryuji asked, only for the room's appearance to conveniently shift into that of a classroom before resuming its original form. "Uh, what was that?"

"The link between the Shadow Realm and your world is weakened here," Morgana began explaining. "What you saw was what this room is back in your school. Because of the weakened link, shadows can't come in here and you'll occasional get glimpses like the one you saw earlier. Think of this as a pocket dimension of some sorts."

"Nice to know we don't have to worry about shadows all the time while we're here," Ryuji stated before relaxing himself. Ren on the other hand was confused as to why this was possible. Since he hardly entered palaces himself, the concept of safe rooms was something new to him.

'Wait, if this is a type of pocket dimension, does that mean I can summon portals here?" Ren thought to himself. Deciding to put his theory to the test, the boy began making a portal to his world. Unfortunately, doing so ended up giving him a massive migraine. "AGH!"

"Ren, you ok?" Ryuji asked, running to his friend's aid.

Ren gave him a smile. "Ugh, my head hurts. Looks like we can't leave the shadow realm if we enter a safe room." he should've expected that to be honest. The safe room technically was part of both dimensions and for some reason, Ren couldn't create portals to the dimension he was currently at, doing so temporarily diminishes his power.

Seeing the boy attempting to create a portal caused Morgana's eyes to widen, impressed by the boy's ability. "So that's how you came to the Shadow Realm. Interesting…you're more useful than I initially thought..."

"Uh, thanks?"

Tired of waiting, Ryuji walked towards the door, placing one of his ears against it. "Hey guys, I think the shadows are gone."

Not really trusting the boy's senses, Morgana decided to check himself. "Yep, I can't hear them anymore. C'mon, let's get moving."

Taking out their weapons, Ren and Ryuji followed the cat.

0000

Having left the safe room, the three adventurers didn't really have any more trouble making it to their destination. Doing so however ended up revealing a horrible sight. At the end of the dungeon were several teenagers on a volleyball court, many guards hitting them with the blunt ends of their spears. Thankfully they couldn't notice the trespassers for the three were a level above them, the volleyball court being a floor below them.

Ryuji could only look at the scene in horror. "Dude, what the actual fuck?"

"I know this is just an exaggerated version of what's happening, but either way, Kamoshida is one fucked up dude," Ren grimenced.

"The dude's got some major issues," Morgana agreed. "But that doesn't matter right now. Just do what you got to do so we can leave already."

"Oh, right." Making his way to one of the cells, Ryuji analyzed the boy in it, trying to put a name to his face.

"Recognize him?" Ren asked.

"Hm… yeah."

Moving on to the next cell, the two boys moved on to the next cell while Morgana assumed guard duty. Unlike the other cell, this one had a kid running on a treadmill.

"N-no more," the kid begged, but the treadmill didn't slow down, only speeding up to punish his weakness.

"Fucking son of a bitch," Ryuji growled, forming a fist. "...Alright, I memorized him. Let's move on."

Turning to the final cell, Ryuji almost threw up. Inside was another boy tied upside down, a cannon firing volleyballs at him. "Ok, seriously, this isn't training, none of this is!"

"Ryuji, calm down," Ren told him, placing a hand on his shoulder, causing the boy to take a deep breath in before exhaling.

"You're right. Let's just get this over with." Sending some time memorizing the face of the student, Ryuji then turned to Ren. "Think three witnesses is enough?"

Putting a hand to his chin, Ren nodded a second later. "Yeah, I think so."

"Good," Morgana sighed. "Now let's get out of here already."

0000

"Ah, it's about time I finally caught you brats," Shadow Kamoshida snarled. Though the three did their best to sneak back to the room they entered the castle from, it turns out that Kamoshida's Shadow happened to conveniently be at the front entrance, giving orders to an armored shadow. Compared to the ones Ren had encountered before, this one was golden.

"Crap, and we were doing so well," Ryuji moaned.

"You three have given me more trouble than you're worth," Kamoshida told them. "Invading MY castle, opposing the king himself, you three deserve nothing but death!"

Immediately, Morgana pulled out his sword as Ren summoned his Phantom Thief costume, the fatigue from before having faded a bit ago.

"Stay back Ryuji," Ren ordered. Not having to be told twice, the blonde backed up until he was a safe distance away from the incoming fight.

Kamoshida glared at them. "SEIZE THEM!"

Obeying the command thrown at it, the gold shadow blew up, three shadows emerging from its remains. The first two were simple Bicorn, something Morgan and Ren knew they could handle. The third one however caused Ren's eyes to widen, a bit of fear engulfing the boy. The owl looking humanoid was a shadow who went as Andras. The boy didn't really know much about it, only knowing it used ice magic and was about the same strength as Arsene was currently. Usually he would flee from any hoard with at least one Andras in them, for such hoards were enough to overwhelm him, but they were blocking the exit.

"Morgana, focus on the two Bicorns," Ren ordered. "I'll take on the Andras."

"You sure about that?" Morgana asked, causing Ren to nod. "Alright, come forth my other self! Garu!"

Popping out from behind the cat, the Persona fired a gust of wind at one of the Bicorns, gaining the attention of the other shadows. Andras began to charge up an attack of its own as the Bicorns began rushing at Morgana, only for Arsene to slash at the owl looking Persona.

"Your opponent's me," Ren said as it turned to him. Since he didn't know any of Andras's weaknesses, he decided to only use Arsene this fight as he was by far his strongest Persona. "Eiha!"

Smirking under his mask, Arsene shot a dark beam of energy at the Andras. Much to his surprise, it seemed the shadow resisted curse damage, for the attack hardly did anything.

"Crap, Arsene, cleave it!"

Rushing forwards, the Persona tried to claw at the Andras, but it managed to dodge at the last second, retaliating with a strong bufu. Thankfully, Arsene resisted the attack.

"Urgh, Arsene, dream needle!"

"..." Ren looked at his Persona, curious as to why he wasn't doing anything, only to notice he was encased in ice. Ren tried pulling out his dagger so he could at least do something, but he forgot that when a Persona was frozen, so was its user. As such, Ren was simply helpless.

"You've gotta be kidding me…"

Meanwhile, Morgana was struggling with the two Bicorn. He has the strength to go head to head with one, but two? Not really.

Dodging a lunge attack from one of the Bicorn, Morgana tried summoning his Persona, only to be hit by the other one. Growling, the cat swung at the Bicorn with his sword, managing to cause it to stagger backwards. Seeing this as an opening, Morgana summoned his Persona.

"Dia!"

Zorro began waving his sword, surrounding his master with a healing aura, but the two Bicorn refused to to allow this to deter them. Using all their might, they rammed into the cat, knocking him unconscious. With him down, the two began focusing on Ren, who had just finished breaking out of the ice. Unfortunately, while he was still frozen, the Andras had been racking up damage against him, putting him at an even bigger disadvantage than he was at before.

Keeping his eye on the strongest shadow, Ren narrowly avoided one of the Bicorn and ran straight towards the Andras, dagger in hand. Before he could, the second Bicorn rammed him in the side, sending the Persona user flying. Trying to stand up, he was then hit by another bufu followed by a lunge from the Bicorn he had avoided earlier. Coughing up some blood, Ren collapsed, his body having taken too much punishment.

Witnessing the defeat of the Persona users, Kamoshida's shadow began to laugh. "HAHAHAHA! Now do you understand that you're up against? There's a reason I'm the king and not someone else. I'm simply unstoppable.

"Grr…" A combination of fear and anger taking over him, Ryuji pointed his gun at the shadow. "You're not going to get away with this!"

Hearing this, shadow Kamoshida gave the boy a mocking glance. "Oh, but I already have. Not only do I have the entire school wrapped around my finger, but I have most of Tokyo as well."

"What do you mean?" Ryuji asked, his finger edging closer to the trigger.

"You really think nobody knows about me? About what I've done? The principle knows, the parents know, and even the local cops know…"

Losing whatever confidence he had in himself, Ryuji's finger backed away from the trigger as he stared at Kamoshida's shadow in disbelief. "I-impossible! You're lying! If they really knew what you've been up to, then your ass would be in jail right now!"

"And why would they do that? Doing so would just make it so they miss out on obtaining some of the glory I have."

"You think you're helping them? You're slowly killing them God dammit!"

"Psh, how can you possibly understand? And even if you did, what can you possibly do to stop me? I busted your leg and even when you went crying about it, nothing happened to me. If I wanted to, I can do it again."

"..." Realizing what Kamoshida was saying was true, Ryuji dropped his gun as he went on his knees. He felt like giving up, he seemed to be fighting an unwinnable battle. He wanted to help, but what was he supposed to do? It's not like most of the school liked him anyways…

"You're really going to give up?" Ren weakly asked the boy, causing him to look at him. "After everything you've gone through, you're just going to let him walk all over you?"

"You heard what he said!" Ryuji shouted at him, tears coming out of his eyes. "What the hell are we supposed to do?"

"Keep fighting."

"What?"

"Keep fighting until it's truly over. The real reason he's able to get away with doing what he does is because no one has officially went against him. If you really want him to stop, then you have to stand up for yourself. Be the hero Kamoshida's victims need. Even one person can make a difference, but you won't be alone. If you choose to stand, I'll follow. So what's it going to be? Die here? Or will you rise to the challenge?"

"..." Mentally cursing himself for giving up so soon, Ryuji stood up and pointed his gun at Kamoshida's shadow. "You're right Ren. This asshole's already ruined one life, there's no fucking way I'm going to let him ruin another without a fight. Ya hear that Kamoshida? I going to fucking overthrow you!"

'You've made me wait quite a while.'

"Huh? Who's there?" Looking around, Ryuji tried finding the source of the strange voice he heard, only to find nothing.

'You seek power, correct?'

"Arg!" Holding his head in pain, Ryuji collapsed back on his knees, all while Ren smiled. He knew what was happening, for it was something he's experienced as well.

'Then let us form a pact. Since you're name has been disgraced already, why no hoist the flag and wreak havoc?' Now on the floor, Ryuji began rolling around in pain, still clutching his head as if it would blow up if he didn't. 'The 'other you' who exists within desires it thus...I am thou, thou art I...There is no turning back…The skull of rebellion is your flag henceforth!"

"AAAAAHHHHH!" A skull mask began forming on his face. When it finished, he yanked it off, causing a bright light to briefly surround the boy. When it dispersed, it was revealed Ryuji's cloths have changed. He was now sporting a black leather jacket, a pair of yellow gloves, and a skull mask. Behind him was a spiritual robotic pirate riding a small pirate ship.

Smiling, Ryuji stood right back up and pointed at the shadows. "Let's get them Captain Kidd. Zio!"

Nodding, the Persona fired a lightning bolt at one of the Bicorn, severely damaging it. The other shadows now distracted by the Persona, Ryuji used this time to toss Ren a tylenol tablet. Eating it, Ren stood back up and summoned Agathion.

"Agathion, dia!"

Gigging, Agathion's hands glew white as Morgana was surrounded by a healing aura. Regaining conscious, Morgana leaped up and summoned his Persona.

"Zorro, garu!"

Aiming at the Andras, Zorro tossed a blast of wind at it, slightly damaging it as Ryuji had Captain Kidd fire another Zio at the second Bicorn. Noticing how damaged the Bicorn were, Ren had a plan.

"Ryuji, handle the Bicorn. They're weak to electricity, so keep hitting them with zio. Morgana, you and I will take care of the Andras."

"Gotcha," Ryuji said before ordering his Persona to attack the Bicorn.

Rushing forwards, Morgana slashed at the Andras while Ren swapped his Persona back to Arsene.

"Dream needle!"

"As you wish." With a wave of his hand, Arsene fired multiple small needles at the owl looking shadow. Eyes widening, the Persona's eyes closed shortly after as it fell asleep.

"Karma at its finest," Ren smirked.

"The Bicorn are prone," Ryuji informed his leader.

Morgana smiled wickedly upon hearing this. "Well, looks like we can now perform an all out attack."

"All out attack?" Ryuji asked.

"Just follow me." With that, Morgana rushed forwards, weapon drawn, Ryuji and Ren following him. When they got close to the shadows, the three began to unleash all their power into one attack, slashing, hacking, and shooting at the shadows while their Personas assisted with some offensive attacks of their own.

With one final hit, the three finished their attack, the shadows exploding in defeat shortly after.

"We did it!" Ryuji cheered. Facing Kamoshida, the blonde stuck his tongue at him. "Well, what do you have to say?"

"AHAHAHAHA!" The shadow laughed. "You think that you can stop me just because you can fight now? You still forget that I have something you don't."

"Kamoshida~" The voice of a girl called out in a flirty tone. A second later, a familiar girl ran towards the man before hugging him.

Ryuji's jaw dropped, unable to understand what he was seeing. "Ann?!"

"I still have everyone's admiration while you two are scorned. This is a battle you can't win."

"That's where you're wrong," Ren declared. "You may have the advantage, but if you think we won't put up a fight, then you're sorely mistaken."

"Cute, but your words hold no truth." Snapping his fingers, Kamoshida called forth several armored shadows. "Now get out of my castle and never come back."

"Yikes, we better retreat for now," Morgana informed the group, knowing there were too many shadows for the three of them to handle themselves. Agreeing, the three began fleeing the castle, ready to call it a day.

0000

"Whew, that was close," Ryuji said as he wiped some sweat off his forehead. "But hey, now I got a Persona! How cool is that?!"

"Now you can officially join the fight," Ren said, putting his arm around his friend. "Now let's get out of here already."

"Ahem!" Both boys stopped what they were doing to look at the cat. "Remember our deal? I lead you to the dungeon and in return you listen to what I have to say."

"Right," Ryuji groaned before facing Morgana. "What do you want?"

"Simple really, I want you two to become Phantom Thieves."

"What?"

"I mentioned before that I was looking for something, and I won't be able to find it by myself. I need people to help me not get killed whenever I go into a palace. Oh, and this will be beneficial for the both of us, don't worry."

"Yeah, like how?"

"How about the chance at earning a lot of money?" Morgana asked. "Or a chance at finding rare items?"

"Eh, that all sounds cool and all, but I'm still not sure."

"Alright, how about having the ability to make Kamoshida confess to his crimes?"

Both Ren and Ryuji perked up in interest. "Go on…"

"At the top of each palace is the ruler's treasure," Morgana explained. "The treasure is the root of their corruption. If you manage to successfully steal it, then the person will have a severe mental breakdown. This can result in them trying to atone to their crimes or it can cause them to kill themselves."

"Woah, woah, I may hate Kamoshida, but killing him seems a bit to excessive," Ryuji admitted, not liking the idea.

"Well, it's not a guarantee...I think."

"That doesn't make me feel better."

"Hm…mind giving us some time to think about it?" Ren asked.

Morgana shrugged in response. "Sure I guess. I'll come get you in a few days to hear your decision."

Ryuji gave him a confused glance. "How the hell are you even going to find us?"

"Heh, I have my ways. Well, I'm going to go now. Try not to lose any brain cells while I'm gone Ryuji."

"Hey!" The boy shouted, only for it to fall onto deaf ears as Morgana had already disappeared. "Stupid cat...whatever. Let's just go home already."

Nodding, Ren began creating a portal back to their world.

0000

"Hey man, thanks for everything," Ryuji said as he began eating a bowl of ramen. After having nearly died in the Shadow Realm, the two decided to celebrate by going to Ogikubo, a local ramen shop in Tokyo. "Your speech really saved my bacon back there,"

"No problem," Ren replied, eating as well. "Thanks for not giving up."

"After what Kamoshida has done to me personally, there's no way I'm giving up!" Ryuji boasted, only to sign a few seconds later. "...This place brings back so many memories."

Ren shot the boy a curious glance, causing him to continue what he was saying.

"Back in my Freshman year, I was a part of the track team. We used to come here to eat together after practice. That was back before Kamoshida was our coach."

"He coaches more than one sport?"

"Somehow he fucking does," Ryuji bitterly spat. "Immediately, he seemed to hate us. He made our lives freaking hell. He seemed to dislike me the most and after facing about a month of that shit, I swung at him. In return, he made it so I can never run again…"

Finished with his story, Ryuji began looking at his ramen. Sensing the glumness coming from his friend, Ren decided to cheer him up. "We'll make him pay for his sins, don't you worry."

Facing the young vigilante, Ryuji shot him a small smile. "Hell yeah we will. I won't rest until that son of a bitch is behind bars."

"Ditto…"


End file.
